Okays. The thing is, I haven't updated this story for like… long time. I apologize. I am really, really sorry. School and stressing over it has taken all of my time. And when I finally get to the computer, I'm just too tired to even think about everything. This period is straining all my powers, I am now coughing my lungs out and feeling completely and utterly like shit.

At least, this story is finally taking a happier turn. And maybe Sasuke will be heading faster towards recovery…. Anyway, I hope you don't mind if I'm moving a little fast. My imagination has died few days ago. Sigh. And by the way… although I said this is going to be NaruSasu (and already is… kind of) do you want this to eventually be shounen-ai? I mean… do you want them to be anything other than really, really (and I mean really) close friends? Although I think a kiss could be kind of cute, but I can't do that for… a long time yet. Sasuke would totally hate me. Sniffle.

I listened few Muse's song while writing this. It kind of fit. And Lifehouse's Everything. Just listen to it. A great song and pretty lyrics. And by the way, people, enjoy Kakashi's return… :D And by the way… I don't really remember if I said that Naruto lived in his own apartment or in the school dorms (sorry), but I think we have to settle for him living in his own apartment. How else could he… okay, you have the read the chapter.

And I'm sorry; I know I moved fast in this chapter. Like I said, my imagination died.

"You can't believe what happened to me today, gosh, I'm so pissed! Naruto said as soon as he got in Sasuke's on one Monday afternoon evening. The patient was sitting on his bed, his hands still tied and face pale, but his black eyes were following Naruto's every movement. The blonde was pacing back and forward and walking in a little circle, fuming to himself about stupid teachers and stupid students. It scared Sasuke a little, but the boy didn't move, just stared at the other boy. The blonde sighed and tried to calm himself, although it seemed to be hard.

"That…. That teacher! He gave me extra homework… extra! Just because I came a little late… he hates me, he totally hates me…" Blondie pouted for a while, before biting his lip and managing a smile towards Sasuke, who had started to look a little concerned.

"Oh… nah, you probably don't even care that much about my irritating teachers and equally awful essays and all that shit, so why I am bragging this much. Dunno. I just think it's already kind of a habit… to come here and pour my life to you. Although you probably don't even listen to me…" Blabber, blabber and blabber. Well, Naruto always spoke too much, Sasuke thought, but he didn't say it aloud. He liked it when Naruto spoke so much. Nothing happened in his life, so it was kind of refreshing to here that at least something happened outside the hospital. And Naruto's voice always had an edge of happiness in it, a light that managed to warm Sasuke's already icy heart.

Naruto reached for Sasuke's white hand and caressed it with his thumb, after he had moved to sit at the edge of the bed, like he had done for last few weeks. Sky-blue eyes gazed warmly into black ones.

"Okay, enough of my life. What about you? How have you been? I'm really, really sorry I haven't been able to visit for few days, but I here I am now. So tell me now?" Sasuke stared at him for a while, his thoughts a little lost because Naruto's hand was still caressing his own. Although a small touch, it sent a small tingle through his body. Sasuke shrugged and turned his head to his lap.

"I…" He started, finding himself unable to look into Naruto's too bright eyes.

"Well…I've had a few nightmares…but…b-but I've felt a little better." He said uncertainly, shrugging again. Naruto's grin had appeared back to his face and now it turned instantly wider.

"But that's great, Sasuke!" The dark-haired boy turned his head so Naruto wouldn't see the slight red colour on his cheeks.

"I… I guess."

"It is… what has Iruka said about that?" Now Sasuke looked at him, uncertainty still in his eyes.

"Err…I-I… he… he says it's a good thing. I'm not that…scared either anymore." He said quietly, his voice still hoarse from the lack of use. Naruto's fingers hadn't let go of his hand and Sasuke noticed that he didn't want that to happen. He bit his lip. How could he say it aloud? He…was scared. Although he hadn't seen any dreams or illusions that would have included… that man it. That he had called his brother. Sasuke shivered. His teeth bit his lower lip again, this time so much harder that the boy winced, eyes once again turned towards his blanket. What in the world was this wave of sadness that suddenly covered his entire being?

"Na…" He didn't realize there was this strange wetness on his face.

"Naruto…" Sasuke whimpered quietly, tugging at the ties holding down his hands. Naruto looked at him, raising his other hand and wiping away the tears from the other pale cheek. Sasuke blinked, not looking at him, but trying to tug his wrists free again. Naruto started to open the ties, and when he had done that, he pulled the smaller boy closer, the only expression in his face was empathy. Sasuke felt miserable. Was he really getting better, was he?

Then why did he miss the little smile his brother used to give him when he was a kid?

Sasuke raised his thin hands and grabbed the front of Naruto's shirt, before burying his face into his chest. Naruto didn't say anything, just circled his arms around that thin, slender body that trembled, and caressed his back. Words would never be enough to comfort Sasuke, just that quiet, tender sound of their mingled breathing. Sasuke never cried loudly, his sobbing you could hardly hear. The slight red tint on his cheeks, the trembling of his shoulders only proved what the closeness Naruto provided him now did to him. Had it only been two months – or what, Sasuke wasn't so sure – that Naruto had first stepped inside this hospital? It felt like an eternity and already Sasuke hoped the other boy would…

His thoughts were interrupted with the clicking sound from the door.

"Naruto, you here – oh…" Iruka had opened the door to find the tall boy holding the smaller one. Naruto raised his head and smiled at the gentle man, loosening his grip on Sasuke. The other boy blinked when Naruto laid him down on the bed, the patient's thin hands gripping the sheets. Naruto grinned at him and made Sasuke turn his head so that his hair covered his eyes. Naruto didn't move from his side, while taking Sasuke's hand in his own again and just holding it. Blue eyes now turned their gaze into Iruka's brown ones.

"So say it, Iruka-sensei, what is it?" Iruka stayed by the door, that one fatherly smile on his face.

"I was looking for you, Naruto. I think we could start Sasuke's rehabilitation soon, what do you say? Will you help us? He's already made so much progress and that's only because of you."

"Do you even have to ask?" Naruto said and grinned. Iruka chuckled.

"That's certainly right, kid." Both Iruka and Naruto's eyes widened, for different reasons. The former went red and backed away from the tall, silverhaired man who had just sneaked his arm around his shoulders.

"Yo." Kakashi said, familiar grin on his face.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto said happily, blue eyes brightening.

"It's me, yeah, and please, kid… just drop the 'sensei', it makes me feel old." Kakashi said in his laid-back-way. Iruka took a deep breath and turned to look at him.

"What are you doing here?" Naruto turned his attention to Sasuke, so as not to reveal his mischievous grin so easily.

"What is that, Iruka-san? Do I hear you saying that you're not happy to see me?" Kakashi blinked, looking almost honestly surprised. Iruka looked like he was going to say something nasty, when Kakashi bowed.

"I am honestly sorry for causing you any kind of distress, Iruka-san. I just wanted to see this two again." And if I said I wanted to see you too, you would just probably bite my head off and accuse me of being a pervert. Kakashi sighed and tried to appear as innocent as he could. Iruka shrugged.

"Do what you like, but you better not step so close to this room. Sasuke's not used to so many people at the same time… especially when you and your pervert books could be counted as three people." Ouch. Kakashi sighed and gave up.

"Okay, okay…I'll just go wait in the lunch room and say hello to others. Bye, kid. Bye, other kid." Silver-haired man said cheerfully to the teenage boys and was gone. Iruka sighed and then coughed, before starting again.

"So… where was I…"

"You were going to say something about rehabilitation? What are we gonna do?" Naruto asked, hiding his grin. He knew that the one Iruka felt attracted to wasn't actually Kakashi – although could you honestly say that man wasn't good-looking? – but that one patient who liked to doodle strange things. The pony-tailed man looked at him for a moment, before blushing in embarrassment.

"Naruto…"

"Okay, okay, I got that."

"Good. Well… what we are going to do is…well, at least we could…" Iruka trailed of, realizing he hadn't got the slightest clue. Naruto sighed and got off the bed, Sasuke turning his head to look for his warm hand.

"I got that, I got that. At least we could let him walk a bit more, not far, but at least meet the other nurses…and if not talk, then at least listen to other people talk. I mean… other than me, of course. Although I of course count as five, but…" Naruto grinned in a narcissistic way, without actually even meaning it. Iruka nodded.

"We could do that…"

"Err… how about today? Nothing much, just a little stretching of legs, if you get what I mean." Iruka smiled.

"I think it's already lunch time for the others. So Naruto, could you help Sasuke so he may come with us?" Wow, fast action. Naruto turned his attention wholly towards Sasuke, who had listened to the conversation with wonder in his eyes.

"Sasuke… do you want to come with me and Iruka to see other patients?" Sasuke blinked. To see…other patients? He hadn't ever really thought about that. He blinked again, in a confused manner, which made Naruto ruffle his hair.

"Silly boy. Of course here are other patients. They are not going to bite. And I will be with you." Sasuke nodded.

"Okay, I'll take your silence as a yes." As Sasuke sat up, Naruto helped him off from the bed, still grinning at how Sasuke was so much shorter than him. He didn't do much else than holding Sasuke's hand before following Iruka out of the room.

When Sasuke stepped outside to the corridor, his eyes widened a little. It had been so many years since he had actually seen anything, so everything felt new. Even though he had only few days ago walked this corridor to the door, but still… He stared around him, and almost didn't notice when Iruka opened the door and stepped inside a room that was a little too bright for his liking. Sasuke hid his face in Naruto's shoulder, not daring to look when he barely noticed there were many… almost five people in the room.

"Good evening, Iruka-sensei! Oh, hello kid!" There were voices and then one approached them. It was a woman's sultry, soft voice. Kurenai ruffled Naruto's hair affectionally before taking note how Sasuke was blinking and staring back at him. The woman looked surprised, before backing away and turning to look at Iruka, who just looked back at her. Kurenai understood almost immediately, so she nodded and turned to smile at both Sasuke and Naruto.

"Sit down. Izumo should be here with the lunch trolley soon." Naruto nodded and grinned before sitting down with Sasuke beside him. Iruka had shut down a few lights, so the room wasn't so bright anymore and Sasuke's sensitive eyes wouldn't hurt. When he finally was able to look clearly around him, he took note of all those people. Kurenai – who he still remembered her name from the night when he was brought here, was a miracle -, the only nurse that was a woman, was sitting beside a sleepy-looking redhead, who was holding a broken doll and seemed to be explaining something in a excited manner, and that spiky-haired man over there… he was looking utterly and completely bored while blowing his gum.

And Kakashi was again looking kind of sad, when Iruka ignored him completely and sat down beside a longhaired blonde man. The latter smiled absent-mindedly at Iruka, before doodling something again on his paper. Sasuke watched all of this with wonder. Really… he hadn't known. He hadn't known at all that there were other people in this hospital… for almost four years, only things in his mind was darkness and how it had eaten everything that was his life. But now…and Sasuke was so confused. Naruto looked at him and couldn't help but smile. That wide-eyed look was just…cute. There was no other word for it. Then there was clanking sound from the door that made Sasuke wince and inch closer to Naruto. They both turned to look. It was only Izumo, who was pushing the trolley and smiling in an apologizing way.

"Sorry for the mess…" Sasori's sleepy look was wiped away when the redhead rose and was led to the nearest small table by Kurenai. The latter quite determined to ignore Kakashi, who was feeling extremely lonely right now. The silverhaired man sat down, sighing. Deidara pushed his drawings away from food's way and started to happily slurp down his soap. Iruka ruffled his blond hair and made the blonde giggle – in a quite girly way, Naruto noted with amusement – before continuing to eat.

Five weeks later, Naruto had grown even fonder of Sasuke. Every day, he had taken the other boy to the lunchroom, just to see Sasori and Deidara and sometimes that quiet little woman Shizune live and laugh and talk with their nurses. And sometimes doze off like Sasori usually did or make Iruka blush crimson, like Deidara managed to do. All of this was making Sasuke dizzy, but a little… happy. Yeah, happy. That word had been so distant to him, so to use it was strange. Most of it was because of Naruto. The sunny, blabbering boy had been with him almost every day, always talking, always being so happy it made Sasuke wonder how could he. Well, some people just were like that.

And when came the day when Iruka promised Naruto could take him outside again, this time for a short walk, Sasuke felt something strange inside him. He didn't know what the feeling was called, so he ignored it. When Naruto's hand covered his own and he was led outside through the front doors to the cloudy day, he felt…safe.

"Look, Sasuke, there's a squirrel!" Really, the little brown creature was staring at both of the boys with big black eyes. They stared back, Sasuke grabbing Naruto's sleeve with his other hand, not really knowing if he liked the brown little animal anyway.

"Look at that fluffy tail, I can totally imagine how my classmates would go 'awwh' over this." Naruto chuckled and made the little squirrel run away. Sasuke looked at him before turning his gaze at the ground. He had had to borrow someone else's jacket and shoes, since it wasn't so warm outside anymore. And they were all too big for him. So he edged a little closer to Naruto, the other boy seemed to radiate such warmness and happiness that he hoped that he could get a part of that. When they had walked a little while around the hospital and Naruto had pointed out at least five different creatures – not many people walked on this early Sunday morning around here – they approached the back door where Iruka was waiting.

Sasuke tugged Naruto's sleeve and made the other boy stop.

"What is it, Sasuke?" The taller boy asked, calming smile on his face. Sasuke looked up to him, opening his mouth to say something, but felt embarrassed to say it. Naruto raised his other hand and touched his cheek, asking the same question again. Sasuke gulped. He hadn't spoken so much during these few weeks, Naruto had taken care of the talking, but…

"I-I…want to say…" How could he say it aloud? Naruto's grip on his hand tightened reassuringly. Finally Sasuke looked him in the eyes.

"T-thank you." He said quietly, long, dark eyelashes finally covering his eyes and hiding their expression from Naruto as he turned his gaze towards the ground. Naruto blinked and then he grinned.

"Absolutely no problem, Sasuke. I like taking care of you, you know." Although Naruto said that in his mischievous sing-song-voice, he was serious about that. Taking care of the dark-haired boy had become and important part of his life now.

"Boys, would you come in now?" Iruka shouted to them, waving his hand. Naruto waved back.

"We're coming, we're coming!" And he led Sasuke back to inside, but not without the latter starting to miss the gentle breeze on the outside, the curious eyes of the small squirrel on the tree.

And the important part was, that he hadn't thought about anything regarding his past during that little walk outside.

Although they had slowly made a progress of getting Sasuke used to other people and open spaces and fresh air, the boy still got scared whenever he was alone or it was dark or his eyes were covered some other way. He was just too traumatized to be able recover from his emotional wounds that quickly. And he was only calm with Naruto around. So the blonde boy came as often as he could.

And when time had rolled forward slowly but surely, they made a decision.

It was finally that time, time to let Sasuke go, time to leave behind painful memories from the mental hospital, which had kept the poor boy inside for so long. It took many, many arrangements for that to happen. At least, for where Sasuke was going to leave, how he had to visit many professional people few times a week, how he had to take medicine and stuff. But eventually Tsunade and Iruka – mostly them, but Naruto had his word in too – decided for the best. Naruto lived in the small apartment near his school and it would be best if Sasuke could live with him, at least, because Naruto was the only person the former mental patient seemed to trust completely. Iruka promised that one of the nurses in the hospital would come to look out for Sasuke every time Naruto had to go to school; he couldn't actually skip it anyway. Naruto was happy with the arrangement, Sasuke was…nobody could tell how he felt, he was feeling out of it for so long when he heard he was finally going to be out.

…

When the day to move came, Naruto was bouncing up and down in excitement. It was a sunny and warm Saturday morning as he came, wearing long-sleeved bright-orange shirt with the words Idiot And Proud Of It and other equally bright colors. Iruka had been up almost all night, he hadn't got much sleep. As he had suggested, Naruto had brought a few of his own – the smallest he could find – clothes for Sasuke and was now trotting down the corridor to Sasuke's room with a bag on his hands.

"Good morning, Iruka-sensei! Here's the clothes you asked. I don't know if they are gonna fit, but anyway." Naruto said in a sing-song-voice and gave the bag to Iruka, who nodded. Sasuke was standing in the middle of the room, holding now a black shirt with a look of confusion. So…He bit his lip and pale cheeks turned a little red. Iruka smiled and Naruto only chuckled.

"Okay, Sasuke…we are going to let you change in peace." How in the world the atmosphere in the hospital could feel so much different than it had felt before? When Sasuke changed in black shirt and dark blue trousers – they surprisingly where only a little too big for him -, he didn't know how to feel. The hospital had been the only thing that he had called his 'home' for the last few years, so the change was a little frightening.

"You ready?" Naruto peeked inside. Sasuke stared back at him. The blonde grinned.

"Wow. They actually seem to fit…. In some ways, at least." He chuckled and pat Sasuke's shoulder.

"Are we done here?"

"Naruto… you do remember to take this with you? And you do remember that…"

"Iruka." Naruto interrupted and looked at the mother hen with a warm smile. Iruka went red and couldn't help but laugh.

"Sorry… I'm just… I don't know what to do. When I go to take you both to your apartment and leave you there I can do nothing else but worry." Naruto looked at him again and laughed.

"Really now…you are such a mother hen." Sasuke looked at both of them, not really quite following what that was about, tugging at the hem of his new shirt. It felt strange to wear something else than the white hospital gown.

"We are going to be just fine. Besides, Kurenai and Izumo both already promised to come every time I'm in school, right? We can't leave Sasuke alone. Not ever again." There was that tone on his voice again. That tone that made the tingling feeling come back and Sasuke's pale cheeks redden. So…there was somebody who cared.

When they walked outside the hospital, Sasuke had to stop and turn to look back, just few meters away from Iruka's car. Had he really been 14 when he was first brought here? Brother's blood clear on his hand, the smell of death filling his nostrils. How much pain there was inside those walls, how much despair. And how much warmth between the nurses and even those patients whose life Sasuke had followed. He blinked and took in every little trace of the hospital, Iruka waiting in the car, Naruto's hand on his other shoulder, the boy looking at the ground, giving Sasuke time.

And the he saw it.

He was sure of it. Itachi looked back at him. The one who loved him and the one he loved in return. A little whimper escaped from between his lips. The vision felt so real that Sasuke felt his eyes burn with tears. His big brother didn't say anything, just looked at him. There was no trace of the blood-thirsty emotionless beast he had seen that night. No sight of the lusty, hungry demon who had touched him in that dirty way. No. There just stood the faint ghost of Itachi Uchiha, the big brother who hadn't know what to do with his life and had gone wrong. But in the beginning had loved his little brother and still did. And he raised his hand. Sasuke blinked and couldn't stop the tear from falling.

There was that little smile that was only meant for him. That smile from the person that had protected him when he was bullied in school or when mother or father had argued and Itachi had always said that everything would be fine.

Sasuke raised his hand too. The transparent figure seemed to start to faint.

"Goodbye."

It was gone. And Sasuke lowered his gaze, biting his poor lip again. He knew he would never ever see or hear his brother again and didn't know if he should be sad or happy. After all, Itachi had been the one to mess up his life. But he had also been the one to make his childhood a happy one before that one night. But when a bright smile was directed to him, Sasuke knew.

This was a start for something… new.

---

God that was something… hope you liked as much as you liked before. I like Sasuke in this fic, really… (what a narcissistic way of saying it. Sorry.)