I am somewhat pleased with this chapter (and lots of writing love to those who like my prologue). Anyway, this chapter should be a lot better.

I do not own any characters from Naruto. –tis sad-

Warnings for this chapter: language, denial, a little something between Naru and Sasu

What the…Naruto's head felt like it was on an out of control merry-go-round. He lightly shook his head some. He moaned softly as he shifted a bit, feeling tugs at his arm. Several questions ran through his mind. One, where the hell was he? Two, why is he alive and not dead? (Curse failed suicide.) Three, Why did he have a bad head ach? (Which was obvious to explain since he met the grill of a black SUV.)

He let his eyes open and was greeted by rather bright lights, blinding his vision slightly. Where am I? Naruto thought to himself as he started to take in his surroundings. Everything is so…soft. Am I dead? But to his belief, objects began to revel themselves as the light got a bit dimmer. First thing he saw was a heart monitor; beeping in a rhythmic way and mimicked his own heart beat. Next was the foot of a quite lovely hospital bed, white sheets covered him from his shoulders down. He let his blue eyes wander around the now clear hospital room; even thought he only be to the hospital once in his young life, he always hated the place. Life and Death went hand-in-hand in this place, giving it a creepy feeling. Naruto looked to his side to see someone had fallen asleep in a chair, which was pulled close to his bed. Hands were clasped together, keeping the head that was leaning on them up.

The sleeper was male, along the lines of eighteen years of age. His black hair was spiked in a rather funny cockatoo like fashion. Skin was a bit on the pale side, probably didn't get out in the Sun much. To top it off, he was wearing a plain black shirt, which seemed to let his muscular arms show, and black jeans, Naruto couldn't see down far enough to see the other's shoes.

He just turned his head away from the other and looked down at his left arm. It was pretty banged up; no, he didn't get stitches on his arm, but there was a bruise or two and a long, but not deep, cut. Next was his hip, which he couldn't see. It hurt like a bitch, or he would say in his own words. He sighed. Why didn't he die? Did the person who hit him, (and happen to hold him in his arms), save him? All his questions stopped as he felt a cool hand touch him on the arm. He looked back to the other male to meet onyx eyes.

"Are you ok? You've been asleep for a while," the other said calmly as Naruto gave him a glazed look. "Sorry, my name his Sasuke Uchiha," he chuckled as he added his name.

"Yes… I'm fine…" Naruto said is a rather uneasy tone.

"I'm sorry if I hurt you, but some people should know to look both ways before crossing the street."

The answers came flooding into Naruto's poor little mind. This was the guy that had hit Naruto, and in his opinion, it was his fault that Naruto didn't die like he had planed. Sasuke gave him a concerned look as Naruto just stared at him and didn't speak.

"Are you sure you are ok? Is something troubling you?" Sasuke asked as he nonchalantly placed a hand over Naruto's. This got his attention quickly as Naruto tugged his hand away slightly, but Sasuke kept a firm grip. Naruto almost let a tear fall; people weren't supposed to care this much about him, he was a worthless street dog and a troublemaker to add to that. Finally, Naruto got his hand away from Sasuke's grip before he looked back at the heart monitor, trying to ignore the other's gaze.

What is he hiding? No one in their right mind would have been on a walking on the streets when it was almost under-freezing. Not only that, but when the doctors examined him, he was so skinny, only 98 pounds; his ribs looked like they were going to rip themselves out of his fucking flesh. Something is up…Sasuke thought when he noticed Naruto was acting so defensive. He let his eyes look at the blond closely. He could see several scars; the ones on his cheeks were the first he noticed. Not only that, but his arm looked like a thin stick and was ready to fall off if anything touched it.

"Leave m-" Naruto started to say before he noticed how raspy his voice was, basically on the verge of crying, then shutting up. He quickly diverted his gave to his hands, twirling his thumbs around before Sasuke began to speak.

"Can you at least tell me your name? I would like to know who I almost killed six nights ago please?" Sasuke's voice was sincere, but demanding at the same time. Naruto looked back up at him before he let his gaze fall, he seemed to like to do that a lot.

"Naruto…" he managed to say in a wheezing voice before silencing himself. It just really bugged Naruto for someone to actually talk to him like a person, let alone care about him. He tried his best not to let the salty substance fall from his eyes, but it just got harder to control as the Sasuke kept caring; he knew he could feel something tugging at his heart, feeling like the muscle would rip straight out of his chest. No one had ever cared for him in any way for most of his life, and this show of emotion just left Naruto speechless, literally. Sasuke was about to comment before a doctor made his way into the room.

"Hello there, I am Dr. Umino, but you may call me Iruka. I am here to check on…" the doctor paused as he squinted to see what ever was on the paper attached to the clipboard, "Naruto… Uzumaki. Funny, it says you haven't been here since you were five," the brown haired doctor looked over at Naruto, who was shamely looking at the tiled floor, and at a rather stressed Uchiha.

The doctor scratched the scar on the bridge of his nose before letting out a soft smile. "Well Naruto, Me along with some other doctors stitched up your left hip, which is seeming to heal at a nice rate. We also have some pain reliver that you can pick up at a pharmecy. And you should be eating more on a reagular bassis; breakfast, lunch, and dinner. While you were asleep though, we pumped a food substance -trust me you do not want to know what it is- in to stomach; you gained a number of eleven pounds, slowly getting to your healthy wieght for some one of your hight," he added as he looked at Naruto. "You should be ok, though you might find it hard to walk and would probably need some help for awhile. If I were you, I would find a family member, or some one near to stay with…at least until you are able to move properly on your own. If you are ready to leave, then you may," he paused as he began scribling things down on a paper, "but if want to stay in the hospital you can, though it would only run up this man's bill," he added as he pointed the end of a pen to Sasuke's direction; apparently he agreed to pay the bill once he had entered the hospital with half living Naruto, which was already up in the thousands with all the stuff the doctors did so far. Iruka smiled again as he handed Sasuke a piece of paper, the name of the pain realiver writen on it, before he walked out the door.

"So…" Sasuke started as he gave Naruto a soft look. "If you are ready to go, I can call your family up and-" he quickly stopped as he heard Naruto let out a sharp cry. Next thing he knew, he felt something fling around his neck, and his shoulder was starting to get a bit damp. He could hear Naruto's sobs as he caught phrases like "I'm all alone…no family…hurts" Sasuke soon relized Naruto really tried to kill himself. It was practically written all over Naruto's body in scars and brusies.

He technacally had no family or home, explaines reason why he was wandering around at night and why he looked like a human toothpick. And Sasuke also noted that the marks on his body were probably from painful events that left Naruto so broken down and beatable. Naruto just kept his arms wrapped thightly around Sasuke's neck, and his face shoved in the crook of his neck, he built up this sadness for so long he just let some of it out right there.

Sasuke let out a deep heart-felt sigh as he wrapped his arms around Naruto, giving him a protecting hug, as if a person would come in that room and try to steal Naruto away, though he was sure not to hug too tight and hurt the him.

"I'm sorry," he said softly as he bagan to rub circles on the blond's back and 'shhing' him, calming him some, "If you really want, you can stay with me for a while…"

Yes! I actually finished this chapter earlier than I anticipated. So same routine here; read and review please…Next chapter will come when more time is gratefully placed into my hands, which might be awhile, but I will try and get the next chapter do as humanly possible.

-Red (lots of writing love)