Chapter 4

Without hesitation, Naruto rushes through the town, clutching Sasuke to his chest.

"Does anyone know where a doctor is!" Naruto shouts at the townspeople. They jump and look at Naruto in surprise. The leaf ninja was holding the Raven haired man frantically searching for someone to help.

"Mistress knows the most medical ninjutsu here." One of the guards from earlier makes their way to Naruto and starts leading him to the bright blue building.

Naruto looks down at Sasuke to make sure he's ok. His head was resting on Naruto's shoulder as he cradles him closer trying to ensure that his head doesn't fall back.

"Hang in there, Sasuke," Naruto mutters softly. It was more so to himself then to the unconscious man in his arms, but a part of him wanted Sasuke to hear him and come back.

This felt like the longest run through a small town Naruto had ever done. The guard leading the way makes a sharp right turn. Naruto close behind. The Guard pulls the doors to the blue building with a yank and he holds it open so Naruto can usher in. He wastes no time and yells out.

"MISTRESS!" Naruto frantically walks about trying to find her, Sasuke still held tight in his arms. He finds her in the nearby sitting room and lunges right up to her.

"What happened!" The woman in question quickly gets up seeing the disheveled state of the Leaf Ninja. His eyes were red and whiskered cheeks were slightly wet.

"He got cut and collapsed." Naruto was confident in his words but his voice betrayed him. Cracks and stutters litter the sentence.

"Get him on a bed!" Naruto nods rushing towards their room. He sets Sasuke down like he was the most fragile of items on Earth. He has him on top of the covers and gently places a pillow under his head so he can be more comfortable, lightly pushing some of his hair off his face so Naruto can see him. He looked so foreign to him at this moment. As if he was touching someone else. Mistress enters and goes to the bedside. Naruto refuses to take his eyes off of Sasuke as she takes his wrist and checks for a pulse, his hand still holding onto his hair as if it were a security blanket. It felt so soft in between his fingers as he rolls it over.

'Please, Sasuke. Please be ok…'

"KIllian, get my medical bag." Mistress directs the guard towards where she had stored the bag.

'Hang in there, Bastard, Please...'

"Mistress, I got the bag!" KIllian rushes towards her causing her to jump. Clutching her chest and taking a deep breath she grabs the bag and begins to open it.

"Where was the cut?" Naruto pulls his hand back from the black hair he was just grasping a blush covering his cheeks. He had forgotten that there were other people in the room and that he was holding his hair. He shakes his head to wake himself up.

"His left arm." He mutters, pointing to where it is.

"Take his shirt off." Mistress directs.

Naruto's head shoots up but he doesn't take the time to be embarrassed. He gently lifts Sasuke once again, laying his head onto Naruto's shoulder. His hands make quick work of sliding the top off. Being very careful around his back and now injured arm. Once the clothing was free, he laid Sasuke back down. His eyes widen as he looks at the cut upon Sasuke's arm.

Black veins stemming from the slash in his arm, like lightning. A foul smell coming from the open wound. Naruto couldn't stomach the sight and regretfully turned away, covering his mouth and nose.

'Sasuke, please…'

Mistress grabs his arm, wincing at the sight but she is quick to work regardless. Looking over him, she finds a slight pulse and very sporadic breathing. She nods to herself and goes to her bag.

"It's what I thought. They got him with the poison." Killian's breath hitches and Naruto shoots his eyes at her. Mistress makes quick work of pulling out a syringe and goes back to Sasuke.

"P-Poison?" Naruto's words catch in his throat.

"I have what I think is the antidote. It should work." She goes to inject Sasuke but Naruto quickly catches her wrist

She glances up. A strange feeling coming from the normally cheerful Naruto. His eyes shone a bright red. Lips pulled into a snarl. His voice deepens as he stares her down.

"Anything happens to him-"

"I've made this off of the poison they used in the past. It should work!" She defends trying not to shrink at how intimidating the man now was.

'How are his eyes red?'

"Should work isn't going to cut it." He growls out.

"That's all we've got. I haven't had a chance to test it first , but it's better than doing nothing at all. The poison used is highly dangerous and will kill him if you don't let me go! Unless, of course, you want him to die a slow and painful death!"

Naruto doesn't release her arm, but just tightens his grip. "Then make sure it works before using it on Sasuke!"

Naruto's gaze continues to go unbroken. He was so angry and he wanted to channel all that rage onto her as if she was the one to cut Sasuke. As if she was the one that let him get hurt in the first place.

'This is all your fault' Naruto thinks to himself. 'Sasuke wouldn't be like this if you were a better ninja!'

He blamed himself for Sasuke's state, but now that the security of the antidot was uncertain, he's anger became untapped. He knew it wasn't her fault, that she was trying to help.

While Naruto is lost in his thoughts, Mistress nods towards Killian and the guard quickly kicks Naruto's leg out. He pins the blonde to the ground in one swift movement. She wastes no time and goes back to Sasuke.

"No!" Naruto cries out.

Mistress quickly injects Sasuke. Naruto pushes Killian off, shoving his elbow into his face and breaking his nose. He breaks free, pushing past both the guard and Mistress and rushes to Sasuke's side. Killian sits up brushing the blood away from his nose.

"Why did you do that?! What if he dies?! I can't-" He stops short as Mistress slaps Naruto across the face.

He looks off, stunned at her actions. Before he can even comprehend what was going on, she takes Naruto into her arms and begins to smooth out his hair. Her hands run up and down his back in a soothing manner, bringing Naruto out of his anger and hysteria. His eyes come back to their normal blue as tears well up.

"12 hours." She states, squeezing Naruto tight when she feels how tense he gets.

"12 hours?" Naruto sniffles, crumbling into the woman's hug.

"If he makes it in the next 12 hours, he'll fully recover." She knows that the poison only takes 12 hours to kill whoever is injected with it. So the assumption is accurate. "He's strong right?" Her words are gentle and a bit childish but they work at calming the blonde.

"Yeah, very strong."

"Keep a close eye on him, darling. I'll be back to check on him in a bit." She gives him a loving kiss on the forehead, reassuring that everything is going to be ok. Naruto nods letting her go as she walks over to Killian and gestures to the man to follow her.

"He broke my nose." The man grumbles with a pout, giving Naruto the evil eye.

"Let's get you patched up." She mutters patting Killian on the back and closing the door behind them.

Naruto pulls a chair up to the bed. His eyes search over Sasuke, examining for any bad signs. Much to his delight, Sasuke seemed to be sleeping soundly. His face is free of any sign of discomfort and his breathing was slow and even. Naruto's hands were shaking and he could feel his heart racing. He looks up and down Sasuke to make sure he didn't miss anything, double even triple checking just to be sure.

He sees Sasuke's hand and can't help but want to hold it. He felt that just by touching Sasuke, it would bring him some sort of comfort. So he goes to grab Sasuke's hand, lifting it carefully. The raven's fingers fall limp and feel cold in Naruto's palm. IT made him so sad to see his best friend like this. Not in a million years did Naruto think that he would see the strongest man he knows like this. But now was not the time to worry. He needed to concentrate on Sasuke. He tried to ignore just how out of it Sasuke was by distracting himself.

Naruto traces along Sasuke's long, slender fingers, memorizing every line. He traced his fingertips along every line and scar that scattered Sasuke's hand and arm, wondering what stories they told. His fingers graze over the callous on his hand, probably from Sasuke's sword.

When he finally stops analyzing Sasuke's hands, he laces their fingers together. Although Sasuke's fingers were cold, Naruto felt a warmth wash over him. One he only truly felt when he touched Sasuke. When Naruto looks at Sasuke, he can't help but laugh.

'This isn't at all how I imagined holding Sasuke's hand would be like…'

The thought makes Naruto feel hot and nervous. He had never truly put into words that he wanted to hold his hand, but in this moment, Naruto didn't care. Perhaps Jiraiya was rubbing off on him, but it didn't feel wrong to have Sasuke's finger intertwined with his. Dare he say he rather liked it, and Naruto smiles. Although it's a bitter sweet thought, Naruto decides to make light of the situation and make a note to remember to try holding his hand again when he's all better.

The hours pass in silence. Naruto never lets Sasuke out of his sight. Their fingers still woven together as if they were made to fit together. Naruto gives Sasuke's hand a little squeeze and jumps when Sasuke's hand tightens back.

"Sasuke?" Naruto mutters out, frantically looking to see his eyes open. Suddenly Sasuke started convulsing.

"Sasuke!" Naruto watches in horror as Sasuke seems to gasp for air but he couldn't quite seem to fill his lungs.

Small convulsions jerk Sasuke's arms and legs and his mouth starts to foam. Naruto quickly reacts and releases his hand and rolls Sasuke to his side towards him. The convulsions roll to a stop and Sasuke's lungs seem to clear as he starts breathing like he ran a marathon. Naruto moves Sasuke's head to make sure his airways are clear, brushing his hair off his face in the process and then grabs his hand again, trembling as he weaves their fingers together.

Naruto had seen something similar after one of his trips to the hospital. The uncontrollable shaking. Sakura called it a seizure and he followed the steps she did. Thanking the heavens for Sakura taught him what to do and even more thankful that he listened to her. At least he tried his best to do and remember all that she told him. Sakura mentioned that they were normal especially when people had foreign medicine in their system.

To stop the nervous shaking from his hands, he squeezes tighter. He was angry and scared and Naruto honestly had no idea what to do. So he sat there for 3 more hours, his eyes never leaving Sasuke.

After a while, Naruto tries to lay Sasuke down in a comfortable position for him. He has him on his back again and has wiped away the bile that came up off his face. He finger brushes his black hair and smooths the covers over him to keep him warm. When he has him all situated, Naruto immediately grabs Sasuke's hands again, fearing that he lets go something bad will happen.

"Please be ok." He mutters, lifting their laced hands to his lips. Closing his eyes trying desperately not to cry or scream or leave to kill the man that did this to Sasuke. To his Sasuke.

'Who uses poison on simple robberies!?' Naruto thinks. 'The only reason Sasuke is like this is because you didn't notice his wound. You're a horrible friend!' Naruto shakes his head. 'I'm going to rip those thugs' limb from limb for even laying a finger on Sasuke!'

"Wow, calm down there, sexy." The words made the blonde jump.

"AH! Where did you-"

"Your eyes turned red again. Do they do that when you get mad?" Mistress asks. Setting a new syringe down.

"Uhh yeah." Naruto's words were short and didn't prompt much conversation.

"So how long have you two been together?" Mistress asks nonchalantly. Naruto looks at her, eyebrows raised in confusion. "You know, as a couple?"

"We-we're-n-not-" Naruto's words catch in his throat as he sputters in response. "We're not together! He's my- he's my best friend." Mistress glances down at the laced hands, raises an eyebrow and Naruto quickly drops the hand.

"If you're not together what was it I walked in on the other day?" Narutos whole face turned as bright as a tomato at her question. She was referring to the massage.

"He hurt his back. Pretty badly. Before we got here. I offered to help."

"He doesn't allow for much help does he?"

"He's stubborn." The words made a small smile appear on Naruto's lips.

"Y-your the stubborn one." Sasuke's voice was weak and barely audible but it made both Naruto and Mistress gasp.

"Sasuke!" Naruto screams in excitement. Sasuke winces at how loud he was.

"I'm right here, idiot! No need to yell." Sasuke rolls his eyes and tries to shift, having been in the same position for a while, but as he tries to move, his entire body feels as if he had fallen off a cliff and he hisses in pain. Mistress walks over.

"This will help with the pain." She mutters, injecting Sasuke. Naruto grabs her arm.

"Don't just inject him with things, woman! You'll hurt him again!" He growls out.

"Naruto, I'm fine." Sasuke says through clenched teeth. Mistress rolls her eyes at both of the boys.

'Pft! Men...' she sarcastically states in her mind. Aloud, she says, "That's not true. You have 6 hours until we know for sure! Now, will you just relax already?"

He snaps back, "You!" He glared at mistress. "Touch him again and I'll-" The threat full of fire as he clenches his fist.

"Naruto!" Sasuke snaps. Causing the blonde to shrink back. Sasuke tries to sit up and winces.

Naruto is quick to his side.

"Stupid bastard don't move!" He makes sure Sasuke lays back comfortably.

"I wouldn't move if you weren't about to rip her throat out! Idiot!"

Mistress walks up to the two and chuckles as she starts to look over Sasuke, making Naruto move. Which he begrudgingly does with a huff and a pout.

"He didn't want me to inject you with the antidote." She mutters to the Raven. He scrunches his eyebrows in confusion. "Isn't that right, sexy?" Sasuke rolls his eyes.

"It's untested! Sasuke is not your test subject!"

"You broke Killian's nose by the way." She states. Sasuke tries to hide his surprised reaction.

"And I'd do it again!" Naruto snaps back.

"How did-what is going on?" Sasuke glances at Naruto and the Mistress laughs.

"Killian had to hold him down while I injected you. Well, more like temporarily moving Naruto because I barely had enough time to inject you." She checks Sasuke's cut and sees the black veins creeping dulling which was a really good sign.

"Alright, sweetheart, you're looking better. Which is a good sign. And you should start to feel the pain medication soon", she winks. Laying a cool hand on Sasuke's forehead and frowns.

She pulls Naruto to the side, "So he's got a fever and a bad one. Which is a good sign that his body is fighting the poison. Problem is we need him to sweat it out." Naruto nods.

"He won't want to be covered and he will fight you. But make sure he's always covered. Extra blankets if you can. Use your body heat. Stuff like that."

"Body heat?" Naruto raises an eyebrow.

"Sexy, you run warm. Really warm. You're like a heater." Mistress runs her hand up and down Naruto's arm, giving his bicep a squeez. She leans in and gives him a cool kiss on his forehead, "You radiate heat, love. Just hop on in there and hold him tight. That ought to do the trick." Naruto blushes deeply thinking about snuggling Sasuke…

"Sasuke would never." He mutters.

"You never know." She winks and walks out of the room, leaving them in silence. Naruto stands awkwardly, thinking about what Mistress had suggested.

"Broke his nose huh?" Sasuke chuckles, breaking the silence. Naruto looks up in shock at the sound.

"You're not mad?"

"No you had my health in mind." A small smile graces the Ravens face and Naruto goes to sit by him again.

"Right." Naruto mutters.

"It's ok." Sasuke states, looking the blonde in the eyes. Trying to make that sad look go away.

"Sasuke you could've died. All because I couldn't notice when you were hurt." Naruto looks away. He can't look Sasuke in the eyes right now. He doesn't want him to see the tears threatening to drop from his worried eyes.

Sasuke can tell Naruto is feeling overwhelmed. He always avoids eye contact when he gets upset. Sighing deeply, Sasuke says, "That was my fault, Naruto. I didn't tell you." Sasuke mutters, laying his head back down. He starts to feel the effects of the pain relief. His head feels fuzzy and all he wants to do is laugh at the sensation. He forgets that Naruto is talking to him, or that he's even there.

"But Sasuke-"

"You know what sounds rrrrrrrrrrrrealy good?" His words were slightly slurred together, with a smile causing Naruto to stop trying to retaliate and look at the raven, puzzled at what was going on.

"What's that Sasuke?"

"Ramen!" Sasuke laughs. Naruto looks at the Raven in shock.

"Sasuke, you hate ramen." Naruto chuckles. He starts to think that the pain medicine is working. He also wonders how much Mistress gave him to start being all loopy in this amount of time.

"Shhh not so loud Naruto will hear you." Sasuke's head lulls back and he giggles.

"Shut up, bastard."

"You can't call me that!" Sasuke limpily points a finger in the general direction of where Naruto is, "Only Naruto can."

Naruto stands up and stares at Sasuke. Sasuke is somewhere between awake and not awake. His eyes are slightly open, as if it was the hardest thing to lift his own eye lids and his head keeps bobbing around. He looked drunk. The room was filled with silence and Naruto's face was full of bewilderment. A huge smile spreads across Sasuke's face.

"I have the bestest idea," Sasuke giggled, "You go to the leaf and get me some miso ramen?" Naruto just looked at the giggly Sasuke speechless. He had never seen him laugh this much his entire life! "Oh-while you're at it, get Naruto some too! Miso ramen with extra pork." The Uchiha opened his eyes and looked at Naruto with the most confused look in his eyes.

He was trying to focus on the fuzzy face he had just told to get ramen. When he finally sees who it is, he looks shocked and smiles, "Naruto! You're here!" His surprise shocks Naruto.

"Sasuke, this isn't funny." Is he not faking this?

"Go to the leaf for me please. I'm hungry!"

"Sasuke...the leaf is 3 days away at least." Naruto tries to understand what is going on. Sasuke pouts and Naruto tries his best not to laugh at how childish he looks huffing and puffing the way he is.

"Well...do they have ramen in this town?" Sasuke asks.

"I didn't see any."

"Ughhh this town is the worst! What place doesn't have ramen." Sasuke throws his arm on the bed in a tantrum and Naruto chuckles.

"How are you feeling, Sasuke?"

"I'd be amazing if the stupid town wasn't so stupid!" Sasuke dramatically sighs. "Stupid woman."

"What women, Sasuke." Naruto was going to enjoy this open Sasuke. Never had he had such a wild conversation with the man he calls his best friend, so he decides to just go with it. It was rather entertaining to see this side of him.

"Mistress women whatever her name is. She touches Naruto all...gross-ugh. Gropes him and squeezes his arm. I mean Naruto's arms are big but," Sasuke gestures with his hands how Mistress touches Naruto by squeezing his own bicep, "handsy women never learned boundaries apparently."

"Sasuke, some people are more open to touching than you are." Naruto holds back laughs as he watches Sasuke pout. The Raven's cheeks puff out along with his bottom lip. His eyebrows scrunch up.

"Naruto is off limits!" Sasuke sits up and pokes Naruto in the chest as if to prove a point.

Completely confused with what is happening, Naruto ponders what he's talking about. 'Whatever Mistress gave him must have been really screwing with Sasuke. He's totally crazy!' It starts to scare him a bit that sasuke has completely forgot that he's even there.

"Sasuke-"

"Oh look! It's raining!" Sasuke looks out the window and Naruto does too, raising an eyebrow.

"It's not raining, Sasuke." Naruto really starts to freak out.

"You know what this reminds me of?" Sasuke looks out the window as he starts talking.

"Wha-what's that, Sasuke?"

"Shhhhh it's a secret!" Sasuke whispers, looking him in the eyes, holding a finger to his lips. He motions for Naruto to come closer to him, Sasuke grabbing his hand. He laces their pinkies together. "Promise not to tell Naruto?"

"Promise." He smiles. Squeezing Sasuke's pinky with his own. 'What secret was Sasuke going to tell him. Hopefully something Naruto can use against him in the future.' Naruto thinks as he hides a laugh.

"The valley of the end. When I first left. I fought Naruto. We both got knocked out. I woke up first." Naruto nods. This involved him. What could've happened?

"Naruto looked so peaceful. He brings this sense of peace. Like a warm sun," Sasuke rambles on, "I had to leave. I had to get my revenge. Naruto was the only anchor to that life left. I managed to cut everyone else out." Naruto nods. Urging Sasuke to go on.

"I couldn't kill him. Like I was supposed to." He mutters, "I fell down right before him, stupid legs all wobbly, his stupid face was free of all that pain I had caused." Naruto was entranced following every word spilling from his best friend's mouth. He didn't know this happened because he himself was unconscious after the fight.

"Something came over me. My hands moved on their own. I traced his whiskers scars." He laughs a genuine laugh. Narutos heart was racing. 'Did he really…'

"Like kitty whiskers; so cute." Sasuke mutters, lifting his hand and tracing Naruto's cheek.

"I felt if I just did it, there would be some closure. That I would feel nothing and know that I am truly ready to leave." Sasuke stops. A small smile graces his lips.

"If you just did what, Sasuke?" Naruto couldn't help but lean into Sasuke's hand where the Uchiha was still tracing the lines on his cheeks. His eyes bore into Sasuke's desperately trying to see where this was going.

"I kissed him. I couldn't stop myself. His lips were soft from the waterfall but there was blood on his lips as well." Naruto's eyes open as wide as they can get.

"You- what?" He gasps.

"His lips were warm and it felt like I was finally doing something right in my life. Naruto is so warm." Sasuke states. His fingers still rest on Naruto's cheek, mindlessly caressing with his thumb. As if finding comfort in his best friend. Then he pulls his hand away.

"But kissing him made me feel worse." Naruto winces at the words as if they stung. Sasuke quickly interrupts the thoughts swarming Naruto's mind. "I didn't want to leave but I had too! I knew if I had stayed I wouldn't be strong enough to ever leave..." Sasuke returns to looking out the window, looking melancholy.

Naruto had no idea this had ever happened. 'He kissed me?'. He had a million questions for him racing through his head. "Why didn't you want to leave Sasuke?" Naruto's hands were shaking and his heart was pounding. He looked into the Ravens eyes pleading for this to be real. That this wasn't just some hallucination caused by the pain relief.

'Please make this real!'

Sasuke turned his head, a tear streaming down his cheek. He wipes it away and looks at Naruto, smiling softly. "Because Naruto is my home."