Story: Melancholia, Chapter 7
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

I hope you all like this chapter... Yikes, I'm feeling so insecure right now...

Replies to Reviews:

heartbreakerninja:

Poor Naruto. Hopefully he gets help soon. Team 7s a bit of a mess.

It is, but it'll get better, I swear.

Moonttje:

Yo, you dont have to apologize,.. its a good story,.. i love the mail i get seeing u uploaded another chapter,.. and as soon as i am home from work ill read it! So dont apologize, i am grateful for u as an author! THANK U

Awww, I'm so happy you like it! I hope you'll stick with me on this.

Jorge Luis Arias Arcentales:

Well, that solves the problem of making them realize what happens to Naruto
And I really like it, I'll be waiting to see how the mission unfolds

Yes, I figured it's good to confront it as soon as possible... Because Naruto really needs help right now.

suki hanasuke:

Dragging things out actually helps with finer details, but dragging them out to long will make people lose interest, just the fact you are trying and building the story as best as you can is a heartwarming feeling that everyone can appreciate! And did you cut before?! You need to be careful and try to get out of the habit! If you need to take a break then go! Please take your self, from love and appreciation, suki hanasuke.

I completely agree, I wanted to be somewhere in the middle, to focus on the build up and proper dynamics and how things have been over the past couple of weeks since Naruto's fight with Sasuke on the roof top in this iteration. I felt like it was very important considering my plans for this story. But I also didn't want to spend to long on other stuff either, because I'd probably end up struggling with coming up with an idea of getting to the next part if I did it that way. And yes, I used to, but I no longer do it. I've been nearly a year clean now, yay... I mostly write stuff like this to cope instead of actually doing it, if that makes any sense. Thank you for your concern:3

Anyway, onto the story. (also there is a little bit of NaruSaku teasers(sort of) in this chapter(sort of), just a heads up. (I hope you all like the way I've approached it here, I really, again, am feeling insecure about it. I am autistic, though, so my understanding of love may be a little delayed, but I've tried my best from what I've learned about love in my own relationships...)

ALSO, BIG DAD!KAKASHI TEASER MOMENT WHICH I HAD SO MUCH FUN WRITING AHEAD! :D (please tell me what you think of it)

It didn't take long to get to Tankazu Town from where Naruto had nearly passed out at. Kakashi took everybody to a hotel to pay for four rooms for a single nights stay. Normally, he wouldn't have bought out for a night this early, but the next town over was quite a ways and Naruto was clearly in no condition to be moving around much.

After he'd got the room keys from the lady at the head desk, he turned to the others

"Sakura, you'll be getting your own room." Kakashi said, handing her the room key, before looking at his other two students, handing the key to Sasuke. "Naruto and Sasuke, you two will have to share one. And you two will be sharing a room as well."

Right as Kakashi gave Izumi a key, Naruto, as expected, wasn't just going to sit still without protesting to the placement.

"What? Why do I have to share a room with Sasuke?!" Naruto demanded. "Why can't I have my own room or something?"

"Because I said so, Naruto." Kakashi sighed. "Just do as I asked, please…"

"Yeah, believe me. The last thing I want to do is share a room with you, but I'd rather not focus on it anymore than I have to. So just get over it already, dobe." Sasuke muttered, starting to walk off towards the room number listed on his key.

"Hmph…" Naruto folded his arms, irritated. "If it was with Sakura-chan, I wouldn't mind, but-" Naruto started to say, but was cut off when Sakura gave him a small smack in the back of his head.

"Don't even think about it, Naruto." She scolded him. "Just do what Kakashi-sensei said. And get some rest while you're at it."

"Ow! Fine…! Fine…!" Naruto groaned, before following after Sasuke. He was still kind of feeling sick anyway. It wouldn't hurt to sleep it off a bit.

Their room number was a couple halls down, but not particularly far, so it was easy to find. Sasuke gave Naruto a brief, unreadable glance, before unlocking the room and opening it for both of them to enter.

"Hmph, just don't talk to me, usuratonkachi… I'm going to lay down for a while." Sasuke said, throwing his bag down beside one of the beds in the room, sitting on its soft surface and taking off his shoes. Due to his nightmares as of late, he hadn't been getting much sleep, so he would be lying if he said he wasn't tired. Besides, it wasn't like they were going anywhere.

"I hadn't planned on it…" Naruto muttered bitterly, going to the other side of the room and laying his bag on the floor as well. Well, at least he wasn't having to share a bed with Sasuke as well.

He sighed, deciding to lay down himself. It actually didn't take long to drift off to sleep.

However, at some point later on, he was suddenly jolted awake by loud moaning. He looked over to see Sasuke tossing and turning in his bed.

Was he… having a nightmare?

"…Sasuke…?" he called out, hesitantly.

When there was no reply, he got up and approached his rival's sleeping body. The raven haired boy's eyebrows were creased. Clearly, whatever the dream was, it must have been bad for it to get him this upset. Could it have something to do with his past…? Nonetheless, he didn't like seeing him like this.

What should I do…?

"…Hey…, Sasuk-" he reached out to touch Sasuke's shoulder in an attempt to wake him up, but was caught off guard when Sasuke suddenly leaped out of bed, grabbing his neck in a choke hold. His sharingan was activated, and he was glaring. Not at him though, it was more like past him.

"Teme, what are you doing…? It's me." Naruto choked out, struggling to breathe and break Sasuke's hard grip.

After a moment, Sasuke seemed to once again become aware of his surroundings. His eyes widened when he realized what he was doing.

"Naruto…" He uttered, before letting go and sitting back down on the bed, his bangs shadowing his eyes.

"What the hell was that for?! I woke you up because you were having a nightmare and you tried to strangle me!" Naruto demanded an explanation.

Sasuke glared at the floor. He hadn't intended to hurt Naruto. But that damn nightmare again… Itachi

"Hey, did you hear me?! I asked for an explanation!" Naruto shouted, hating to be ignored, grabbing him by his collar.

"…It's nothing…! Just drop it already, Naruto!" Sasuke spat, slapping Naruto's arm away. His eyes, even though his Sharingan was no longer activated, were colder than he'd ever seen them before. The Uchiha then lied back down, his back turned to the blonde.

Naruto bit his lip, but decided to not press the matter any further. "Damn it… Whatever…, I'm going to go and see if I can find a restaurant in the area…"

He seemed to be feeling a lot better than he was earlier(minus for his agitation due to a certain someone), so that was a good sign.

He slipped on his shoes and left the room, rubbing his neck where it was still sore at. Clearly, Sasuke hadn't meant to attack him, but it still pissed him off.

"Oh, Naruto, you're finally awake. Feeling better now?"

Naruto looked up to see Kakashi standing there.

"Yeah, I feel great!" Naruto smiled, before scratching his cheek awkwardly. "Sorry again for worrying everybody…"

"It's no problem, Naruto, just take however much time you need." Kakashi briefly stroked his head, before starting to walk off.

"Oh, Kakashi-sensei, what room is Sakura-chan in? I wanted to ask her something." Naruto turned his attention to her.

"It's room number eighteen." Kakashi said.

"Great, thanks!" Naruto grinned before running off towards the right room.

Naruto hesitated for a moment once he reached her door. What if she was asleep or something…? He didn't really want to cause any more trouble for her than he already had today. But he didn't really feel like eating dinner alone either right now…

Well, he might as well take his chances. What was there to lose?

Naruto softly knocked on the door, swallowing. "Um, hey, Sakura-chan…?"

Suddenly, the memory of Sakura crying as she tightly hugged Sasuke in the hospital a few weeks prior flashed his mind, and he immediately considered leaving. He had no right to intrude on that, even if was only as friends. Asking Sakura to go and eat with him… That would surely be selfish of him, right? But it was only as friends, so it couldn't… hurt, right…?

But-

Before he could second guess himself again, the door opened, and Sakura peeked out the door.

"Naruto? What is it?" Sakura asked, raising an eyebrow. "Are you feeling better now?"

"Yeah, I am. And um, well, I kind of wondered if you wanted to go with me to a nearby restaurant to get something to eat…?" He averted his gaze with a small blush. "It's kind of lonely by yourself, ya know…? But if you don't want to, I mean I'd totally understand…" Naruto made himself more awkward than ever with that question. A couple months ago, he would have had no problem at all calling it a date and indiscreetly asking her out, but now, he didn't even know what his place was in any of it anymore. Sometimes, he almost felt like a third wheel around them even if her and Sasuke weren't actually even together.

Sakura observed him, musing for a moment. Since when had Naruto been so reserved about such a thing? Originally, she'd found him asking her on dates to be annoying and intrusive to her time and personal space, but now that that he was being so… considerate of her feelings… She almost thought it was kind of cute.

Wait, what? No. Naruto was not cute.

And besides, she wasn't really that excited by the prospect of going off right now. She looked away, a downcast look on her face. "Sorry, Naruto… I'm not… really feeling up to going out anywhere."

"Oh… Alright…" Naruto forced a smile in response. He thought she might turn him down, but it still kind of hurt regardless. Of course, it wasn't like he could really blame her. He scratched the back of his head. "It's fine. I guess I'll just go by myself then, or, who knows, maybe I can get Kakashi-sensei to come with me. Ha-ha… Sorry for bothering you, Sakura-chan…"

After hearing that and seeing the pained expression on Naruto's face, Sakura felt guiltier than ever. Had he really wanted to spend time with her that badly…?

"Wait, Naruto." She found herself calling after him without a second thought. "I guess I'll come with you, after all."

Who knew? It might turn out fun.

"Really? You mean it?" Naruto's eyes lit up, and another unidentifiable feeling like she'd felt for him earlier that day entered Sakura's chest at seeing how happy he was.

"Mn-hm." She nodded.

"Awesome!" The blonde grinned excitedly.

"But this isn't a date, so don't get any ideas." Sakura said, sternly.

"I know, it just makes me really happy you accepted is all." Naruto sheepishly explained.

"Alright, let me get my shoes on… I'll be out in a minute." Sakura gave a small smile herself, after sighing a bit. Afterwards, she closed the door to take care of her business. Naruto was left standing outside her room with a facial expression that showed he was clearly on cloud nine.

Even though it wasn't a date, it still felt nice to know that he was going to get to spend a little bit of time with Sakura.

It didn't take but a minute for her to come back out.

"I guess Sasuke-kun didn't want to come then...?" She inquired.

"No, and it's not like I would have asked him to come anyway. That bastard tried to choke me earlier…" Naruto grumbled.

"He what?" Sakura stared at him with wide eyes.

"Well, I mean, it wasn't really like he meant to, I think. He was having a nightmare, so I went to wake him up and that's when it happened. I'm totally fine now." Naruto said. Wait, why was he defending Sasuke…? Normally, he would have been perfectly content badmouthing him. Then again, he couldn't deny that he'd been a bit worried himself and Sakura clearly had as well.

"I see…" Sakura uttered, deep in thought, remembering back to when Sasuke had knocked the plate of chopped apples out of her hand back in the hospital. He'd had some bad outbursts lately, and in some ways, he just wasn't the same as he used to be, but to hear that he was suffering from nightmares too… she couldn't help but worry for him. Even so, Sasuke most likely wasn't in the mood to talk much right now if what Naruto said was true.

"Hey, don't worry, Sakura-chan. I'm sure he'll be alright later and everything." Naruto said, not liking to see her look so down. "I think he just needs a little bit of space right now, is all…"

Sasuke's actions still irritated him, but he did understand that Sasuke had not been himself lately, so he couldn't bring himself to hold onto his grudge for long.

"…Yeah, you're probably right." Sakura forced a smile, trying to push aside her worries. "Come on, let's go. While we're at it, we could bring Sasuke-kun back something."

"Alright, I guess so… What kind of food would he want, anyway…?" Naruto mused aloud.

"You didn't know? His favorite food is onigiri. And rice in general, actually." Sakura told him.

Of course she would know something like that…

Naruto briefly considered covering everything himself, but then, when he saw their sensei up ahead, an idea popped into his mind.

"Hey, Sakura-chan, I wonder if we can convince Kakashi-sensei to give us some money." He mischievously whispered to her.

Normally, Sakura would have scolded him, but she herself didn't really have that much on her either. It'd make so much more sense to get an adult to cover the cost.

"Let's go ask him." She gave a small smirk, playing along with his idea.

Kakashi, who was walking down the hall reading his book, looked up when he saw them coming towards him.

"Kakashi-sensei, we need to ask a favor."Naruto said.

"Hm? What's up, you two?" Kakashi rose an eyebrow. They didn't really look like they were up to anything bad, but…

"We wanna go somewhere to eat and we kind of need some money." Sakura chimed in.

"Why not just go to the cafeteria? Or order a plate? Meal costs come with the expenses of the hotel stay." Kakashi pointed out.

"But it's not the same!" Naruto argued back, whining.

"He's right. And I want umeboshi or some dumplings! I doubt they'll have anything like that in there. Not to mention we were already planning to get Sasuke-kun some onigiri, so it'd work out perfect." Sakura said.

"Please, Kakashi-sensei?" both her and Naruto said in unison.

Kakashi observed their pleading eyes, before sighing and caving in to their request."Fine… How much is it you're wanting…?"

Naruto and Sakura shared a brief glance, smiling, before Naruto spoke up. "How about 300 ryo?"

Kakashi was about to protest, but once again, he gave in. However, instead of handing them 300, he handed them a 500 ryo bill. "Fine… Here, see if you can pick me up some salt-broiled saury while you're at it. Either that or some miso soup with egg plant would be nice."

"Alright, thanks, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto and Sakura smiled running off.

He sighed again. Why did his students have to be like that…? When it came to them, he always had a soft spot for them. Briefly, he wondered if Minato ever felt this way around him, Obito and Rin… Would he have been able to turn them down if he were in his position right now…?

They really are something else, those three…

It was sunset when Sakura and Naruto came outside, the sky tinged with a dull mix of orange and purple. A pleasant evening chill had set in, making the temperature just right in comparison to the blaring heat from earlier.

"Wow, the temperature's perfect now. At least much better than it was earlier." Sakura noted.

"Huh, I hadn't even noticed, but you're totally right! That heat was unbearable…!" Naruto said.

"Come to think of it, I wonder how Kakashi-sensei even tolerates wearing such clothes when it's like that." Sakura mused, putting a finger to her lip in deep thought. "You'd think they were insolated or something."

"Yeah, especially his mask…!" Naruto added.

"True… And we still don't even know what's underneath it…" Sakura murmured, a little dejected.

"Hmm… I wonder if it's some kind of scar or curse mark that he doesn't want others to see…" Naruto pondered it.

"Good question…" Sakura uttered. For a long moment, she was silent as she thought back to the curse more on Sasuke's neck. If it was a curse mark he was hiding, could it be anything like that one…? What was Kakashi keeping from them…?

She gave a small smile, deciding it was best not to obsess over it for the time being.

"Well, it's not like we'll get any answers by just thinking about just thinking about it, so let's focus on what's in front of us. If you don't mind me asking, what are you planning on getting…?" She asked him curiously.

"Hmm… I'm not sure yet. Probably some Miso, if I can find some." Naruto pondered it absentmindedly. "It's too bad there's no Ichiraku Ramen shop out here."

"You and your ramen." Sakura gave an exasperated look. "Don't you ever eat anything else besides that? You need vegetables and healthy foods in your diet, Naruto. You can't live on sodium alone, you know."

"First, Kakashi-sensei, and now you too, Sakura-chan…?" Naruto groaned. "It's not just noodles and broth… There's chasu too and even egg."

"You really don't get it, do you…?" Sakura sighed. Oh well, what could she do? It was Naruto she was talking about…

"Besides, you're the one who likes the dango and umeboshi…" Naruto pointed out. "You can't exactly call those healthy foods either."

"Hey, it's not like I eat that every day or anything!" Sakura's face flushed defensively, pouting a bit. "I just so happened to like sweet things, is all…"

"I know. I just thought it would be kind of funny to tease you about it." Naruto laughed a bit.

"…! Well, don't do it again!" Sakura huffed, before turning on her heel and trotting off towards a nearby restaurant she spotted in her peripheral vision.

"Huh? Sakura-chan, wait…! That didn't make you angry, did it! I didn't mean to upset you, I swear! Sakura-chan-"

"Just drop it already…!" Sakura spat, trying her best to ignore the way her face was heating up. Why was she feeling this way around him…? Come to think of it, she'd slowly been finding herself seeing him in a different light in general lately. And Something had just... changed. She'd started thinking back to all the times he'd helped her, inspired her, encouraged and cheered her on, and it really… made her happy. And yet, she still couldn't place what it was she was feeling right now.

Whatever, it didn't matter, she quickly told herself, to avoid thinking about it too heavily.

Naruto followed her into the restaurant, and fortunately most of what they came there for was there, except for the ramen Naruto wanted.

"What?! No miso or noodles?!" Naruto exclaimed, causing some people to look up to see what the commotion was. "What kind of restaurant doesn't serve noodles?! This place is lame."

"Keep it down, Naruto…! You're going to catch the attention of everybody here…!" Sakura scolded him, before looking up and humbly apologizing to everybody around for the disruption.

She then sighed when they looked away when Naruto grumbled an apology at her insistence.

After that, they were asked what they wanted. Naruto reluctantly opted for a spiced tonkatsu bowl while Sakura went with coconut shrimp and umeboshi, on top of that, they both asked for water.

They were directed to a seat to wait in the meantime. It didn't take long for a waitress to come by. However, only Sakura seemed to notice the small gasp that exited the woman's mouth when she approached them, or even the way she almost seemed to slam down Naruto's tray and glass of water in front of him versus how much nicer she was towards Sakura. Only she seemed to notice the glare directed at her grinning blonde teammate.

"Thanks." Naruto smiled, trying to pretend he wasn't bothered. He was used to this kind of thing in the village after all. It wasn't a surprise that there were people, even out here, who recognized his face.

"Don't mention it." The woman muttered, walking off.

Anger boiled within Sakura in that moment at seeing Naruto treated so harshly, and she was almost prepared to beat the woman up herself. But she knew it wouldn't do any good to get kicked out of a restaurant.

"Naruto… Wh-" Sakura started to broach the subject that had been bothering her for a while – why? Why did people look at him like that?

However before she could finish, he interrupted her.

"Come on, Sakura-chan, let's eat. We wouldn't want our meals to get cold, you know?" Naruto smiled weakly, as if he hadn't even heard or was trying to avoiding giving her a chance to question it. It was then that Sakura could tell. Naruto had something that he didn't want her or anybody else to know. Something big. And it was causing him pain.

She couldn't stand being kept in the dark like this anymore. Naruto was her friend.

"Naruto," She said more sternly this time. "why do people always treat you that way…? It's not like you did anything wrong, right…?"

"…It's..." At hearing her question, he averted his gaze, feeling his anxiety getting the best of him again. A small part of him wanted to trust her, to open up and tell her everything, he couldn't stand worrying her like this. But the mere idea of her possible reaction and her hating him… It terrified him. He couldn't risk it, no matter what. It was better to put the matter off as long as he could. And so, unknowingly, he told her basically the same exact thing Sasuke had told her earlier that day: "It's nothing, Sakura-chan… Don't worry about it. Just focus on yourself. I'm sure you have enough issues going anyway, right?"

"But, Naruto, it's you I'm concerned abo-" Sakura tried once more to get him to open up, not satisfied with his answer. However, the next words that came out of his mouth shut her up entirely.

"Please..." He plead.

He was begging her to not press the matter any further. And the look in his eyes told the whole story.

He was scared. Whatever it was, he was afraid of her finding out.

Sakura bit her lip and looked down at her food after that, momentarily deciding to drop the matter. She didn't want to upset him anymore than already clearly was at the moment.

However, the mood of dinner had, over all, been ruined for the both of them, and not much was said following that.

They stayed there about another twenty minutes, silently eating their food, after which they payed for two to go plates with salt-broiled saury in one for Kakashi and omusubi with okaka in the other for Sasuke.

And, once again, not much was said heading home, until Naruto suddenly spoke up, surprising Sakura.

"Sorry about earlier, Sakura-chan…" He said, looking away with a guilty expression. "I kind of ruined dinner…"

"Hey, don't worry about it…" Sakura said, smiling a bit. "I didn't really help make things much better myself."

"Even so… I'm still happy you came with me…" Naruto said, a bit awkwardly. "It really meant a lot to me, ya know…?

"Well, I wouldn't do it all the time, but we should spend some time together like this again one day. I had fun." Sakura said, lightheartedly.

"Really? For real?" Naruto looked up at her, grinning.

"Mh-hm." Sakura smiled.

"Alright! I'll be looking forward to it!" Naruto beamed. "Anyway…, we should probably get this stuff on up to Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke, before it gets cold."

"Right." Sakura agreed, but suddenly, she thought back to the woman at the restaurant, and without thinking she reached out and grabbed his arm. "Wait, Naruto…"

She couldn't help but feel a little concerned when he flinched at her touch. It was just like earlier, but he seemed to react even harder this time. Was he injured…?

"Huh? What is it, Sakura-chan…?" Naruto inquired, trying his best to regain his composure.

"Is there something… bothering you…? You know you can trust me, right…?" Sakura asked him, just as she'd tried to encourage Sasuke to open up to her as well.

At hearing the word 'trust', Naruto became hesitant, once again, wanting to spill everything out that had been on his mind, to open up about everything. However, once again, he forced himself to stop out of fear of rejection, and opted to reassure her that nothing was wrong. He didn't to burden her with his problems, it would only be selfish of him.

"Hey, it's like I told you before, Sakura-chan. I'm totally fine, so, really, there's no need to worry about me, okay?" He told her, trying his best to ignore the anxiety that was once again crawling its way up into his chest and stomach.

Sakura looked uncertain, she clearly didn't buy it, but decided to not press the matter any further for now. "…If you say so…"

"Oh, good, you two are back. Did you get what I asked for?" Kakashi was quick to greet them.

"Yeah, but they didn't have the miso soup, so we had to get the Salt-broiled Saury instead. Here's the left over money." Sakura said, handing him the remaining ryo and his take out tray.

Kakashi couldn't help but notice that Naruto and Sakura almost seemed kind of depressed now, unlike before.

Something must be bothering them.

"Anyway… We're gonna go bring Sasuke-kun his tray now. Come on, Naruto." Sakura said, not noticing the listless look on his face as her back was turned to him.

Especially, Naruto…

"Ah, right, coming…!" Naruto immediately ran after her, leaving Kakashi wondering if he should talk to him. In the end, he figured it probably wasn't anything that big, even if it was a little disconcerting. He'd just wait it out. If they were still like that in the morning, he'd talk to them then.

"Good evening, Sasuke-kun, we got you something. It's your favorite. Onigiri with okaka!" Sakura entered the room with Naruto when Sasuke opened it up for them. "We thought you might want something since you haven't eaten anything all day, so we-"

"I'm not hungry… Just put it by my bedside or something." Sasuke, who'd long since changed into some night clothes, muttered, barely acknowledging her. Due to the nightmares as of late, he truthfully hadn't really felt like eating much of anything at all, least of all right now. He would probably just end up throwing it up in the mental state he was in right now. Maybe he'd eat a rice ball later if he felt like it.

"Oh, okay…" Sakura said, looking down, as she did as asked. "Are you sure… you're not hungry…?"

"No, I'm not. Just drop it." Sasuke said curtly, making it clear he had no intentions of indulging her.

"…Alright…" she uttered, barely above a whisper.

"Sakura-chan-" Naruto reached out to stop Sakura when she turned to leave.

"I'm going on to bed." Sakura looked back at him with a forced smile. "Make sure to get some good sleep tonight, Naruto, so you'll be fully rested in the morning… Good night, Sasuke-kun."

After that, Naruto couldn't even bring himself to go after her. However, within an instance, Naruto found himself approaching Sasuke and grabbing him by his collar. "Teme… Sakura-chan was worried for you, and you just blew her off like you didn't care at all!"

"Get off of me..." Sasuke spat, slapping Naruto's hand away. However, there was a glimpse of guilty in his eye that made it clear that was sorry for brushing off Sakura's concern, so Naruto decidedly let go. He didn't really feel like getting into a fight anyway right now.

"Fine… Screw you…" Naruto growled out, before heading into the bathroom after picking up his bag, which contained his cure, locking the door behind him. He knew this self-destructive habit of his was becoming incredibly dangerous, but he didn't even care anymore. He just needed it so bad right now, more than anything. Honestly, he couldn't wait until this damned mission was over already.

He could hardly tolerate Sasuke at all and he was so afraid of somebody finding out either one of this secrets, and the woman at the restaurant only served as a reminder that he wasn't safe from those harsh glares no matter where he went. And Sakura … He'd only been stressing her out since they left the village. On top of that, if Kakashi found out about him cutting himself, he would undeniably have to get somebody else, like Tsunade, involved, and, worse than that, he'd probably end up in the hospital under surveillance and that was the last thing he wanted.

Well, he'd just have to do his best to keep it hidden.

It wasn't long before he realized he'd taken the wrong sleeping shirt.

Of course it would be a short sleeved one.

Looks like he'd just have to wear his jacket to bed, as annoying as it was.

So that's what he did, exiting the bathroom.

Maybe Sasuke wouldn't notice.

"You're wearing your jacket to bed…?"

No such luck.

Sasuke was raising an eyebrow, clearly a tad taken aback. There weren't very many people who slept in their jacket in bed, unless one, they were too tired or two, they were trying to hide something.

"So what if I am? It's none of your business, teme." Naruto grumbled.

After that, Sasuke didn't respond.

And to be honest, he probably would have pushed it to the side as just some odd quirk of Naruto's if it wasn't for finding bloodied bandage wrap disposed in the trashcan a couple hours later. Perhaps, Naruto had been too dazed at the time to make a proper attempt to hide them.

But it was because of that that everything began to piece together.

Near fainting spells, pale skin, flinching at being touched, bloodied bandage wraps, even the pattern of the blood on the wraps… and going as far as to sleep in his jacket as if he was trying to hide something… The only thing he was missing… it was the weapon.

Fear for Naruto's safety started to consume him.

Shit… If that idiot has been doing what I think he's been doing and he continues… It could really kill him...

What should I do?

Should I tell Kakashi-sensei…? Or maybe I should talk to Sakura instead...

No, I need to confirm my suspicions first, so I'll have to confront him myself before anything else...

A/N: Hoooooly shit, this took forever. We're finally getting to the matter at hand... I hope you all liked this, and I really hope you didn't mind the NaruSaku stuff. I didn't want to make the chapter all about that and like I said I want this to be slow build, so I tried to make it NaruSaku without it actually being NaruSaku yet. Naruto is trying to respect Sakura's feelings. And Sakura will slowly start dealing with a small delima due to having had feelings for Sasuke. I know many write Sasuke as a jerk to make Naruto and Sakura get together, but I don't really want to go that route(even if it may have seemed a little like it in this chapter). I want Sakura to move on from her feelings for Sasuke in more of a natural way, while still writing Sasuke as a traumatized boy who learns to open up again and see those around him as his family. His concern for Naruto, his best friend, will be a major push for that as will Sakura and Kakashi.

I hope you all will stick with me on this...