http/ zaccheo. livejournal. / 12689.html- that's the link to VeiledLantern's fanart. Go check it out. I adore those drawings, pretty. Thank you. (Just erase the spaces between the words.)

Thanks for the reviews, again. Here's the next chapter. You may call it the 'Enter Gaara'-chapter. Yeah, Gaara. I only recently realized that I could actually add Gaara here. I love redheads.

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"I really wonder if everything went well…" Iruka thought worriedly as he hurried back to the criminal ward, after being hastily called away by the confused Izumo. Iruka had felt terrible – and scared – for leaving Naruto with the very unstable Sasuke, but for a moment he had just… Iruka sighed and rubbed his temples. His head was aching so much that he could barely think. The brownhaired man's thoughts had been elsewhere – in the poor Deidara, who had been having his strange seizures again -, but now they came back to where he actually was with a crashing force.

He heard overjoyed, overly happy ranting and singing from Kimimaro's room. Iruka frowned and went closer.

"And he finally did that! And that and that too and whoopsie, there he goes again! Now isn't that just horrible, soooo horrible, don't you think so too, love? Don't you? I can see…Oh, hello there Umino-sensei." Iruka looked at Kimimaro, who looked back. The whitehaired man's green eyes were staring back with clear madness in them. Wide, happy grin was on his face. Iruka only frowned again.

"Please be quiet, Kimimaro-kun." The green-eyed monster just giggled back and started to walk around in his room, giggling, but not speaking again. And Iruka bit his lip as he turned around to Sasuke's door. The room behind it was eerily quiet and hurriedly Iruka pushed his key to the lock, opening the door. He blinked and stared at the sight in front of him. Sasuke was trembling in the corner, halfway sliding to the floor and his skinny arms around himself. And he was crying. Again.

"Uchiha-san…" Iruka said quietly, but the boy didn't seem to even hear. Then his brown eyes met the sight on the bed. Tall, limp form with the mess of golden hair.

"Naruto-kun!" Iruka gasped and was on the blond boy's side in a second. He didn't even notice when Sasuke stood up, still shivering and murmuring something.

"Naruto…" Iruka touched the pale cheek and then the boy's neck. Good god, at least he was still breathing…the gentle hearted pony-tail man let out a little sigh of relief. He carefully lifted Naruto's left arm and put it around his own shoulders, the he put his own arm around the boy's waist and turned around to leave from the room. But to Iruka's very surprise – and shock -, he saw how Sasuke suddenly made a rush towards the door, which he had so carelessly left unlocked. First, Sasuke almost bumped into a wall instead. But, like a panicked animal, he more felt than saw the faint light coming from the corridor and bolted to the door.

"Uchiha-san!" Iruka tried to yell, but the still sobbing Sasuke was beyond words. The boy managed to push the door open and then he ran.

"Idiiiiot! Monster! Beware, beware! He comes, he goes, he comes. Mother is right, Sasuke's been a baaaad boy. Bewareeee! Monster, a monster!" Kimimaro screamed at the top of his lungs as he saw Sasuke blindly running down the corridor, yelling something that sounded terribly like…

"I'm sorry…I'm sorry, I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…"

"Uchiha-san!" Iruka yelled, horrified, as he went after Sasuke to the corridor. He instantly heard Zabuza growling with a low voice and he saw the black-haired man clutching the bars on his door.

"Run, bitch." Zabuza hissed and stared at Iruka with hateful eyes as the poor man went beside his door. He couldn't actually run while carrying Naruto, so he just tried to walk as fast as he could, yelling after Sasuke, who almost crashed three times into a wall, seeing nothing. Sasuke opened the door at end of the corridor with shaking hands and run through the doorframe.

It was, that at the same time when Sasuke started his blind run, that the front doors of Akai Tsuki opened and inside stepped a teenager. Not just any teenager, but a gothic boy with fiery, short red hair, the kanji for 'love' in his forehead and sharp, greenish blue eyes. Gaara cleaned a non-existent dust away from his black, ripped shirt and then he looked around him. Those sharp eyes narrowed a little, as he walked forward, hands in his pockets and his chains clinking a little against his blood red trousers. He walked and cocked his head to his side, as he heard someone scream. Well, this was a mental hospital, but still…to Gaara's surprise – his eyes widened a little – he saw a skinny, dark haired boy in a hospital gown that reached his knees, running towards him.

"Hey you, stop him!" Gaara heard a yell. The redhead turned his head. Sasuke accidentally crashed right onto him and flinched. Before the patient could even react, Gaara's strong hands had already grabbed him. And being the more taller and stronger one, Sasuke could only shriek pathetically and try to fight back.

"What is this?" Gaara said quietly – he rarely yelled -, mostly to himself. A pony tailed man stepped out of the same corridor that the boy had ran. He looked a little flushed – must have been all that rushing and yelling – as he opened his mouth to speak, but when he saw Gaara's sharp gaze concentrated on the unconscious figure he was holding. Iruka became quiet and bit his lip again. The redhead's eyes narrowed dangerously. Sasuke had fallen silent and was shivering, when even he felt the murderous intent from that taller boy.

"Did you… do that… to Naruto?" Gaara asked quietly. Naruto…now, let's just say that the redhead wasn't one to actually have friends. Mostly because everyone felt so intimidated about him and were scared. And Gaara knew it was his fault. It wasn't like he even wanted friends, right? Yeah, not until Naruto came in to the scene. And he was one that Gaara could call his friend, his best friend, even. The blond had said it himself, with that wide, happy grin plastered on his face, while ruffling the red hair of his friend. And Naruto had accepted him as he was, not wanting anything. And it was only to Naruto, that Gaara had actually even smiled, had curved those thin lips and said things that he wouldn't say to anyone. And for Naruto…Gaara would do quite many things. He had sworn he would seriously hurt – or even kill – anyone who insulted or hurt Naruto anyway. Iruka panicked and shook his head as he saw Gaara's glare.

"No, no…. you have the wrong impression…" Iruka's brown eyes lingered at Gaara for a while, before his eyes darted to look at someone else.

"Tsunade-sama, could you help, please?" Gaara's attention was turned away at the busty blonde woman, who stood behind him. Golden brown only looked at him curiously for a while, before the woman grasped Sasuke's skinny, handcuffed hand.

"It's…t-too… bright…" Sasuke murmured, when Tsunade gave him the injection quite roughly, her full lips tightly together. Sasuke began to feel a little drowsy and his blindfolded gaze fell to the floor. Gaara let go of him and Tsunade led the shivering boy, the last remaining Uchiha, back to his room. Iruka sighed and motioned for Gaara to follow him. The redhead obeyed, crossing his arms. He hadn't missed the way Sasuke's gaze – he wondered a little about the blindfold – had turned around, like he was looking for something.

"I'm sorry…" Gaara heard Sasuke's last quiet sob and then Tsunade's soothing voice. Their voices disappeared behind the door. Gaara shook his head and followed the still creepily silent Naruto.

Iruka laid Naruto down on the couch at his office and Gaara sat in front of him, looking a little irritated by all of this.

"First of all…may I ask your name? It's not very polite for me to say 'you' all the time." Iruka said and looked at Gaara, now feeling a little empty. The redhead just looked at him.

"I am Suna no Gaara. I am his friend, what the hell is going on here?" Gaara growled. Oh yes, certainly he was angry. Naruto was unconscious, for God's sake. And he had seen those red marks around his neck that someone's fingers had left. Gaara's chilling cold eyes moved to stare at Iruka, who hesitated, before shrugging.

"Well…as you may know, Naruto has been coming here a lot during the summer – "

"Yes, I know about that stupid summer job…" Gaara interrupted and glared at everything and anything. Only when looking at Naruto – Iruka noticed – was, that his sharp glance softened. But it was as piercing as ever as the redhead looked at the brown-haired man again. Iruka coughed and nodded a little.

"But well, the one Naruto's been visiting a lot is Uchiha-san. Namely that certain Sasuke Uchiha, who you accidentally met at the corridor…" Iruka's voice lowered and Gaara's eyes narrowed. Uchiha…Uchiha…he remembered reading about those things few years ago. At first, that mass murder that happened… not a single of the wealthy, big Uchiha family remained. Not a single one…. except for the little brother, who was currently somewhere around 11 years at that time. Gossip went strong, but one thing was certain…Itachi Uchiha had been the one do that and had sent his little brother into the mists of his own mind.

"I know about the Uchihas. They are all dead now, aren't they? Isn't that's why…Sasuke's there?" Gaara asked quietly. Iruka looked sad.

"Yes, they are. And that is the reason. It seems that when the elder Uchiha brother did…what he did, he also did something else to mess with his little brother's mind. We came to the conclusion that that 'something' was indeed what we would call…rape." Iruka looked a little pale at that. Even Gaara's cold heart felt a tiny sympathy towards the annihilated family all those years ago.

"Isn't that just lovely…the respected and loved big brother goes on a rampage and kills his family and leaves just his little brother, rapes him and then escapes somewhere…" Gaara snarled, venom in his voice.

"…Hai. Sasuke was diagnosed with severe schizophrenia when he was first brought here. It was such a sad sight to see…14-year-old boy, small, with black eyes and black hair, so pale that he looked like a vampire. The most ugliest thing was that he was found by the police at the scene of his own crime…next to the body of Itachi Uchiha." Iruka shivered a little. He had been there, he had seen that slender-built boy with blood in his hands, giggling and madness in his black eyes – nobody had first seen the red fire in them. The body of his big brother was laying right next to him, many cuts around his neck and chest, a big knife sticking out of his chest. He had felt so…sick, at least when seeing the smile on Itachi's face. But his eyes had been wide, so wide and with the certain lack of emotion. And their color…had been the very color of blood. Iruka looked elsewhere and stared at Naruto laying on his couch, for a while, without being able to continue. Gaara tapped his table, impatiently.

"Sorry, I paced out…well, he has been like that ever since that day. He should be 17 now…and the…yes, the blindfold. Well, it's just that there was something about his eyes. First they were so dark like pools of black water, and then they would change and be that very tone of red that we saw when Itachi Uchiha died. One of our nurses died day after she saw his eyes, other one broke her arm. Just by looking at his eyes. And other…things happened. So we decided it would be best to cover his eyes. There had been ups and downs with him, but there hadn't been a day he had seem to even recover. Medicine and all works quite fine, but there's something wrong, so deeply inside his mind that it keeps him from the normal world. And I never saw the harm in letting Naruto sit behind his door all day and talk to him. Sasuke answered him one day and that only encouraged Naruto. He's quite a boy, isn't he…?" Iruka smiled a little and Gaara snorted, but shrugged it off. This was actually quite interesting.

"But today…well, Sasuke had been behaving more well than ever and Naruto had been begging me already for weeks to be let inside his room. I refused so many times, who knows that Sasuke would do…and this happened." Iruka blinked and sighed, rubbing his head again. Gaara's crossed arms twitched.

"I was gone for a little second and then I find Naruto unconscious and Sasuke sobbing in the corner. He's always there, alone…and Kimimaro-kun in the opposite cell isn't quite helping things with his ranting. But, well, here we are…" Iruka's talk was interrupted by the low moan from the couch. Both he and Gaara turned to look. Naruto hadn't moved, but he was frowning a little and his other hand twitched. Somehow, his unconsciousness had turned into a restless nightmare.

"Sasuke?"

"Oy, Sasuke, is that you?"

Naruto looked around him. There was nothing…nothing but that old, dusty Japanese house. The blond frowned. He could sworn he had sawn a dark figure walking around…pouting a little, Naruto turned around but still saw nothing.

He heard a whisper right at his ear, which made him jump.

"Sasuke! That is not funny!" Naruto said and rubbed his blue eyes, looking around. He walked and touched the front sliding door of the house. He went in and was immediately swallowed by it's darkness.

Someone sang in the distance, that very song that Kimimaro had sang so many times in the midnight – Naruto of course hadn't heard it before, so the lyrics just freaked him out even more.

"Sasuke?" Naruto called out again.

'You will not hear me say…I'm sorry…'

"Y-you…"

Naruto turned around. And there was Sasuke. Handcuffs around his wrists, head bowed down. But a black kimono covered just barely, but not enough. And Naruto saw countless scars and burnt marks around that skinny body.

Blue eyes widened in concern. And Naruto took a step forward.

'Where is the light…wonder if it's weeping somewhere…'

"Naruto." Sasuke whispered. That made the blond boy stopped. He had never heard Sasuke saying his name before. The raven-haired raised his head. His lips were parted slightly and his breathing sounded…forced, somehow.

"Sasuke! Are you okay?" Naruto asked and took a step forward again. Sasuke looked straight at him – he thought – and his skinny shoulders shook.

"I…"

To Naruto's shock, he saw one drop of blood coming under that dark cloth that covered Sasuke's eyes. It was like a bloody tear. And then…

"I…want to…

Other bloody tear leaving it's red trail down that white cheek.

"I want to…"

"You want what, Sasuke? Tell me, please." Naruto bend down a little and his hands grasped Sasuke's slender shoulders. The blond boy couldn't help but feel concern, feel sympathy for this white and black and red being in front of him.

"I want to see…"

And then there were more of those bloody tears, more, colouring Sasuke's white cheeks red.

"You want to see what?" Naruto asked quietly. His own hands were now shaking, as he saw Sasuke raising his and touching his blindfold.

"Take it off…I want to see…"

Sasuke's too thin fingers curled around the cloth and started to tug at it. When Naruto started to help, the raven-haired boy just hissed at him.

"I want…I w-want to…s-s-see…"

The wide, dark cloth slid to the ground. For a while, black bangs covered Sasuke's face.

Before being able to control himself, Naruto took a step back. Another.

"I want to see…" Sasuke said again and white hand moved those strands of messy blue and black away.

"You."

Naruto heard himself scream. There weren't eyes that were staring at him, no, just two empty holes. Blood flowed down his cheeks. A little smile tucked Sasuke's thin lips.

"I…I… can't…I still can't…" And then Sasuke started to scream. Shout of an animal in anguish. He clutched his cheeks, his eyes and screamed and screamed and screamed.

"I still can't see you! Why, why!"

Naruto's blue eyes were suddenly wide open. He breathed heavily and it took a moment to realize where he was and with whom. He sat and then his blue eyes concentrated on Gaara. A little smile appeared on blond's face.

"Hi-hi Gaara. I-Iruka-sensei." Only now Naruto noticed the brown-haired man standing next to his redheaded friend. Naruto flashed a sheepish, confused smile and scratched his head.

"Was I… unconscious for…a long time?" Iruka shook his head.

"Oh…okay." Gaara's hand had found it's way at the top of Naruto's and squeezed it. The blond smiled at his friend.

"I'm okay…just a nightmare…" Yeah, just a nightmare. But Naruto didn't understand this overwhelming feeling of pure sadness in his heart. And it hurt.

"Oh, and Iruka-sensei…don't blame Sasuke. He…he doesn't understand what he's doing." When Gaara was angrily opening his mouth and saying something nasty, Naruto pushed a finger against his lips and shook his head.

"No, Gaara. I like you, you're my best friend, but this is something I must do…Sasuke is…broken. And I want to fix him, fix his life, at any cost. And let him understand that I only want to help him." Naruto said quietly and Gaara only blinked at him. And then shrugged.

"But only in the condition that you're not going inside his room anymore. At least not alone. I believe you – " I could believe everything my only friend says – " –and I know about the Uchiha massacre and all…but that boy is a schizophrenic, no matter what you say." Gaara said sternly and Naruto scratched the back of his head, smiling sheepishly. It was just that attitude that Naruto couldn't argue with. Normally, no one would argue with Gaara anyway, but Naruto couldn't say no. He shrugged.

"Okay." He grinned and Iruka could have sworn that he saw a hint of smile in Gaara's face.

After fifteen minutes, Iruka let the two friends to another room this time. It was so white that even Naruto had to blink. But it was clearly just a normal hospital room and in the middle of it – it wasn't that big – was a bed and in it lay Sasuke. It saddened the three of them to see that Tsunade had actually had to tie his hands so that if he freaked out, no one would get hurt. But the boy seemed this time to be in a deep sleep. The blindfold was still there and both boys saw the gentle rise and fall of the chest hidden under those sheets. Naruto stepped forward and walked next to the bed, Gaara after him, Iruka leaning against the door. He didn't want to interrupt.

"Sasuke…" Naruto whispered quietly and his blue eyes were suddenly so…bright and beautiful that it hurt to look. The blond boy remembered his terrible dream, what he wasn't scared. Even if that happened – and he didn't believe it- Sasuke still would never seriously hurt him. And even if he did, he didn't mean it. The slender raven-haired Uchiha prodigy didn't know the limits of his own strength, and was so confused and lost that Naruto wanted to be the one to lead the Uchiha back…where he belonged. Not here, not certainly here. For a while the boy only watched Sasuke's sleeping face, beautiful – the only word that he could use – frame and how his thin lips were slightly parted. He looked as the white hand laying on top of the sheets twitched, saw those thin fingers curl a little. It was so miraculous, how he felt like he had been enchanted. And he knew that he wanted nothing more than to be there for this sole survivor. Naruto bend down and carefully tugged the cloth covering Sasuke's eyes up and away. Iruka didn't move, he just watched, with a sad smile on his face. Gaara flinched, his hand grabbing Naruto's arm, but the blond boy didn't even seem to notice.

Yes. This is what he had expected. Not that terrible scene from his dream, not those two black holes with nothing inside, not those eyeless eyes, not that sad little thing.

No.

Naruto lay the cloth down at the small table next to the bed, his blue eyes never leaving Sasuke's face.

He felt himself smile a little, as he watched the slight flutter of long, dark eyelashes. There were such a dark contrast against that deathly pale skin. A strand of bluish-black hair was caught on his face and with one gentle move Naruto wiped it away.

God, this boy was just…

So fragile, like he would break if I even touched him for real. And he is...the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.

"Sasuke…" Naruto said again. Gaara's grip on his arm was a little harder, but the blond ignored him completely.

'Don't be sorry, Sasuke. I forgave you already when you did what you did.'

But when Naruto reached out his hand, when his fingers had already felt a little of that cold skin, a skinny hand grabbed his wrist. It squeezed so hard that Naruto winced, mouth slightly open, blue eyes widening. Even with the cuffs on his hands, Sasuke's other hand had risen just enough to clench his fingers around Naruto's wrist.

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked quietly, bending closer.

Those eyelashes fluttered again and this time, there was a strip of darkness between his lids. Gladly the room wasn't that bright, with only two dim lamps on the ceiling. Sasuke turned his head.

Naruto's breath caught in his throat, when his blue ones met dark eyes, black eyes, colour so deep that Naruto felt like he could just drown himself into those pools of darkness.

(And I am not addicted to Sasuke's eyes, I am not addicted to Sasuke's eyes, I am not...

Cough. Yeah.)

Woohoo!

Finally, someone may say. I can't help but love those two. I just love them. As friends, as rivals, as team-mates, as lovers, ANYTHING.

I'm so happy, even with this chapter too. Hope you like.