Disclaimer: I'm not good enough at drawing to own Naruto.

Sorry for the late update. Insert a good explanation here. I think the beginning is a bit flat; apologies.

Chapter 14

Forty-eight hours, fifty-five minutes. Nineteen seconds.

That was the time that Naruto estimated Sasuke had been gone for.

It was killing him. He tried not to let his thoughts wander to anything bad; like Sasuke being hurt or worse. It was so unfair. He wasn't sure what exactly was unfair, but whatever it was, unfair was the only word for it.

And he was going to kill Sasuke. By hugging him to death. Or depriving him of oxygen.

Naruto smoothed out his pants, scratched at a stain.

Forty-eight hours, fifty-seven—oh screw it. Did he really want to know?

Kakashi shifted next to him. Frowning. The chairs in the waiting room were uncomfortable. Naruto had a feeling that the receptionist popping her gum at the desk didn't like them.

Oh gods, let Sasuke be okay.

A tangle of sounds dawned and Naruto was on his feet, deciphering them as two different sirens, and he nearly bolted for the door, but a hand grasped his wrist, jerked him back into the seat.

"Don't." Kakashi's serious eyes made the blond hesitate and look up at him with a mix of annoyance and curiosity. "They have to get injured people in here as quick as possible. You'll only slow them down." Naruto blinked and he could swear Kakashi's fear was bleeding through his eyes.

Naruto sighed. Settled back in the chair.

Forty-nine hours, three minutes. Six seconds.

"Oh c'mon!" Naruto raged, making Kakashi wince and pity the poor receptionist subjected to his fury. "If he's fine, then let me see him!"

The woman sighed, obviously trying to remain civil. "Sir, please understand that at the moment we are legally obligated to keep him under close surveillance and allow no one in his room." She sighed and tapped her clipboard, "He's also unconscious, so it's not like he can talk to you. Once the police have interrogated his personal medic and passed along any needed information to us, we'll let you see him, but for now, please sit down."

The blond collapsed to the stiff chair with a huff. "But I want to see him." He murmured.

This was hell.

Kakashi sighed and patted the boy's head.

He rubbed his brow, frowning at his headache, and sighed, dropping his hand onto his face.

It smelled like blood.

Sasuke's eyes snapped open, jumbled memories rushing back, and upon sitting up he nearly fell back as vertigo was quick to dizzy him. He waited, eyes closed against the world, for his mind to catch up to him, letting out a sigh when it finally did.

The ceiling was a soft white and the walls were a calming blue that made him think of the sea that he had seen once, long ago, when he'd been very young. He wasn't anywhere in Orochimaru's mansion. It was nowhere near this peaceful. He took a deep breath and recognized the smell of antiseptic. A hospital? Sasuke glanced around and found a chart on a table near his bed and picked it up, squinting to make out the handwriting.

Stress... Mental fatigue... Sasuke blinked down at the words and mentally dismissed them, replacing the clipboard to the table.

He ran a hand through his hair and caught that scent again, and before he could really think about it, he was washing his hands in the tiny bathroom adjoined to the room. Sasuke closed his eyes and took in a long, calming breath, turning off the water and slowly drying his hands.

He could still smell blood on them.

Opening his eyes, he flinched horribly when he saw someone with red eyes staring back at him, but recognized it as himself quickly enough and mentally scolded himself for letting a mirror scare him.

He closed his eyes again, and prayed to anyone that would listen that his eyes would go back to normal. Please just make it go away...

With childish fear, he slowly opened his eyes, overwhelming relief washing over him when he only saw black, not red.

He couldn't use them, not ever; never. Not the eyes of a killer.

That didn't even make sense, did it...? How could—

"Sasuke-kun?"

He flinched at the sound of his own name and peered out the doorway, caution thrumming in his veins. There was a man who was standing just inside the door of Sasuke's room that looked not at all familiar. He wasn't exactly handsome, but he wasn't ugly either. Rather, he had a worn, old look, like he'd seen his fill of the world, despite his youth. Sasuke dully noted that he was, technically, flat-lining, so it was no surprise someone was sent. Not a nurse, though. They must have anticipated he would wake up.

"Sasuke-kun," The man gave a tired smile when he saw the teenager, "I'm Detective Yamato Tenzou. Could I speak to you?"

Sasuke's hand gripped the door frame a bit harder and nodded, stepping out of the bathroom and sitting at the small table in the room, across from Yamato.

There was a silence, and Sasuke let his eyes drift across the room to stare out a window, idly noting that hospital clothes itched. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Yamato, who seemed to be thoughtfully going over his words.

"My men and I have searched Orochimaru's mansion quite thoroughly. We were able to locate his... laboratory..." Sasuke didn't react to this word, keeping his eyes fixed on the outside. Yamato continued, "However, we were unable to find any... records or documents. If you have any idea where we might be able to find them...?"

"No." Sasuke replied softly, "I wasn't told anything."

"I see." Yamato studied him for a while, but failed to establish any eye contact. He sighed and pushed onward, "Were you aware that others beside yourself were..." He swallowed, not quite feeling it was right to say what was the truth.

But he had elicited a reaction, nonetheless. Sasuke's face flickered, the placid mask slipping slightly, but enough, and his eyes swept downward to study his hands. "I knew." I knew everything

"If you could give us any names, Sasuke-kun?"

"No." He felt his throat tighten uncomfortably at the thought of Kimimaro. "I never knew any of them."

"Is there anything that happened to you while in Orochimaru's care that we should know about?"

Sasuke jaw tightened and he forced himself calm, despite the quickening of his heart. "No."

Yamato said something in the affirmative that Sasuke didn't hear and he stood, squeezing the raven's shoulder. He was just turning the knob when the boy finally spoke again.

"Did I really kill Orochimaru?"

There was a long pause that seemed to stretch for years, Yamato's eyes on Sasuke's back and Sasuke staring down at his hands. Yamato breathed a sigh, wishing there was an easier way to say this.

"Yes. You did."

Sasuke didn't move at this revelation, stock still as ever. Yamato hesitated a moment longer, studying the unattractive teal-colored hospital clothing on Sasuke's slim form.

"I'll see if I can let Naruto visit you soon." He said, and he stepped out of the door, locking it behind him quite audibly.

Leaving Sasuke to cradle his head in blood-scented hands.

Her name tag read 'Shizune', and Naruto didn't care what she had to say, so long as she'd say it so he could talk to Sasuke.

But the memory of Kakahi's serious look as he told the blond he needed to speak to Shizune first strengthened his resolve to listen. The woman gestured to a chair in her office, encouraging the boy to sit as she shuffled papers to stall and collect her thoughts.

Shizune sighed as she regarded Naruto.

"How to put this... As you have been informed, Uchiha-kun has been subject to human experimentation." Naruto fidgeted, but Shizune kept her formal tone; it kept her mind clear of her emotions and the boy needed to know this,

"We don't know what Orochimaru did to him. His mansion and surrounding grounds were thoroughly searched, but it only provided us with the fact that Uchiha-kun was only used for refined experiments and when success was almost one-hundred percent.

"There are, however, some side effects we want you to be aware of. The first is the psychological effects. We know that he is self-abusive and even suicidal." Naruto gave a small nod at this, a frown on his features. The woman paused, her features soft, but serious and grim. "We can also tell you he seems to have attempted suicide fairly recently." Naruto's head shot up at this, eyes wide. If some of Sasuke's scars seemed somewhat recent, that would mean he had only been stopped recently, which meant he attempted suicide recently, which meant...

"We are a bit concerned about his... mental stability, but I think that now that he's out of his, ah, situation he should be able to recover well enough..." Naruto fidgeted, blinked rapidly. He'd never been good at controlling his emotions.

Shizune put a hand on his shoulder, offering a sympathetic smile before continuing.

"Uchiha-kun also seems to be underweight, but not exactly malnourished. We'll be putting together a diet for him to follow."

Naruto's clasped hands pressed together tighter and cleared his throat, "Yeah. I always thought he seemed thin..."

Shizune forced herself not to comfort the blond and instead to keep going, "There are likely other side effects, but at the moment we are unaware of them. We've decided to release him into Kakashi-san's custody until he is eighteen," She grinned, allowing some mischievousness to show through, "but I'm sure Kakashi-san will let him live with you, since there is less than a month until his birthday. If you would like him to."

"Of course I would!"

Naruto's outburst seemed to have startled Shizune, but she smiled at him.

"In that case, unless you have questions, you may go ahead—"

He was already out the door.

In his reflection in the window, he could see his eyes; black and soulless. He gently lifted a hand and rested his fingers on the cool glass of the window, right under where his reflected eyes were.

Demon eyes. They looked normal now, but he knew—he knew—that they would turn red and see everything, like some unholy gift; a demonic gift that killed people, whether they were innocent (Kimimaro) or not (Orochimaru).

Those eyes. They were an abomination, a dirty mark upon the purity that was humanity, and they were Sasuke. He closed his eyes and rested his forehead against his hand.

It didn't make sense! How could he have red eyes? He still had trouble... remembering... if what Orochimaru said was true... But it was too scary; made his stomach squirm and head ache to think at all about anything before he was eight. But... he could remember red eyes.

What did that mean? His eyes were red sometimes, but Orochimaru had made them that way. What did that mean...?

Sasuke sighed.

No one could ever know about these eyes. Not even...

"Sasuke!"

Until now, the raven had been standing, in that ugly hospital shirt and pants, at the window. The illogical parts of his mind told him that Naruto would think he was a freak and never want to see him again, while the logical parts of his mind said that Naruto would still love him.

But once he heard his name and turned and found his arms full of the blond he had been contemplating, those worries all vanished.

"Naruto." He breathed, and buried his face into Naruto's shoulder, taking in his scent.

"You damn bastard!" Naruto scolded without conviction, "You made me worry."

"I'm sorry."

There was a light cuff on the back of his head. "Don't be. It's not like it's your fault." The fox took Sasuke by the shoulders and he was loathe to let the taller, warmer person go. "Are you okay? You're not hurt or anything, right?" He said, eying the bruises on Sasuke's neck that the other boy had all but forgotten.

Sasuke shook his head, "I'm fine. Don't worry."

"Good." Naruto leaned down and gave Sasuke a slow, chaste kiss, then pulled him into another hug, more gentle this time. "I'm glad..."

He pulled Sasuke down to sit on the floor, refusing to relinquish his hold. Head buried into the crook of Sasuke's neck. He sniffled, and for a moment Sasuke wondered who was comforting who, but when Naruto pulled back and spoke there was no sign of an upset.

"I heard you're going to be put into Kakashi's custody, because they don't want to fill out paperwork or something. And you're going to be eighteen soon anyway. And Kakashi will let you live with me."

Naruto could see the smile that Sasuke was trying to hide. "Good."

Sasuke took Naruto's hand in his own, tracing the shapes of his fingers and feeling the callouses under the pads of his fingers. It was comfortable, like this. In that short time (it had seemed much longer than it really was) that they had been apart, Sasuke had felt like he'd been forgetting everything about Naruto, and now it was like it was all coming back. Every curve and line of Naruto's body.

"Naruto?" Sasuke murmured, half on Naruto's lap, outlining the blond's hand.

"Yeah?" He whispered back. Sasuke quirked a half-smile.

"Did you bring me a change of clothes?"

"Sasuke... you'll tell him won't you?"

Sasuke had wanted to demand his personal file, to say he wanted to know exactly what had happened, whether it be that Orochimaru had told the truth or not, because he was afraid; much too afraid to find out for himself; too afraid to remember anything.

He didn't even remember having a brother.

Then again, he didn't remember his parents either, and it seemed so backwards now; how could he have gone nine years without it ever striking him as odd that he didn't remember? Was that normal? That, when you forget things, that you don't even notice?

But at the same time he could remember things and it was scary. Not the memories themselves. The memories were really more vague feelings and images than anything else. It was scary because he had the memories all along, but he'd never put two and two together.

How can you remember and not remember at the same time?

He didn't want to tell Kakashi any of this. Too afraid of what it meant...

"Of course I will."

Sasuke had nearly fallen asleep during the ride back to Naruto's apartment (Kakashi had taken them in his car), and once he'd gotten home (yes, home) Sasuke had retreated back to the warm, familiar bed. He hadn't told Naruto to go to bed with him, but it was mere moments after he slipped under the covers that he felt strong arms press his back against a chest.

He slept well that night, even though in the morning he had a sore shoulder.

Sasuke woke early, but did not leave the bed. Instead, he watched Naruto sleep, something he had never done before but found to be strangely addictive. He watched in contemplative silence as the blond woke. Naruto's eyebrows drew together and he sighed deeply, then his hold on Sasuke's waist tightened and pulled him closer, smelling the boy's hair.

"G'morning..." He murmured sleepily. Sasuke smiled against his throat. A moment later, Naruto rolled away, vulpine smile on his face, even if it was a bit sad. His hand kept a firm grip on the boy's hip.

"I missed you..." He admitted, and Sasuke didn't like how he felt at those words and looked away. Naruto had other ideas, though; cupped the smaller boy's cheek and pulled him back for a soft kiss. Not even. Just brushing their lips together.

He missed this. A lot.

Naruto was trailing his fingers over the inside of Sasuke's elbow and the shorter boy looked down. Naruto was oddly fascinated by his scars. They told a story, didn't they? Not a happy one, but still a story. One of his tanned fingers circled a tiny dot of a scar.

"I thought you would have more." Naruto murmured softly. Sasuke shook his head.

"Didn't always use syringes. Sometimes pills or a drip-feed. Not always on my arms." His voice was very soft and he felt like an encyclopedia. He couldn't stop himself. He had to talk about it; even some insignificant detail. "A lot on the back of my neck, left side. A few on my hip."

Naruto smiled in a way too heartbreaking for Sasuke and he tried to look away again, focus on something else. Focused on a dot on the ceiling.

"I missed you too." He said finally. Gods—he hated all these emotions. Why was he being emotional?

Naruto squirmed closer, curled up to Sasuke.

The raven squeezed his eyes closed, felt too-hot tears escape his eyes. Was it normal for happy to be painful?

Naruto was uncharacteristically patient. He traced patterns into the crook of Sasuke's elbow until Sasuke managed to find the will to keep himself composed.

It took a while for Sasuke to coax Naruto out of bed, and it took even more convincing to allow Naruto to let Sasuke shower alone. The raven truly couldn't tell if it was out of perversion or concern, but decided it was a bit of both.

The day predominately consisted of lazing about, despite the fact Sasuke knew that Naruto wanted to ask him questions. It was the small glances that clued him into the blond's thoughts. Whenever he thought Sasuke wasn't looking, he would look at him with emotions that conflicted. Should he respect Sasuke's privacy, or should he help Sasuke talk about what happened? He'd let it go for that day; he'd ask later...

The next day they went out to eat at Ichiraku's. The old man that ran the place hailed Naruto warmly and gave Sasuke an acknowledging nod, recognizing him as a friend of the blond. Naruto—unsurprisingly—ordered miso ramen and Sasuke opted for 'real food', tempura.

Naruto conversed with the man amiably and exchanged greetings with his daughter. Sasuke remained quiet, content to watch it all happen around him.

For a moment, when he glanced idly across the street, he thought he had seen a young man with gray hair in a ponytail and glasses, but when he looked again, he saw nothing. Sasuke thought for a long moment, and then decided that there was some justice in the world after all.

Naruto's hand left the ramen bowl it had been grasping and covered Sasuke's. Sasuke's lips lifted into a small smile. Naruto's hand was warm.

Sasuke had a nightmare that night. It wasn't particularly violent; in fact, if Naruto hadn't woken up to go to the bathroom, it may have gone unnoticed.

But Naruto had a difficult time waking Sasuke, who was so wrapped up in his vision and muttering unintelligible things under his breath, but he didn't think much about it and shook him awake, calling his name.

Sasuke woke peacefully. No shouts or flinching or confused stares. Just sleepy blinking and a slow shake of his head.

"Are you okay?" Naruto asked, tucking a strand of hair behind Sasuke's ear. He leaned into the touch.

"Yeah." There was a pause and then Sasuke sat up, leaning his back against the wall and looking up at Naruto. The blond looked on curiously, a comforting hand on his lover's arm.

"It was my fault that Orochimaru found us." Sasuke admitted quietly.

The sudden confession startled Naruto, the act itself more than the contents. "What do you mean?"

Sasuke managed to keep his face blank, but his eyes stared past Naruto, not quite able to make eye contact.

"When he got the phone bill... He saw your phone number. He found your apartment from there. I should have thought of that. I'm sorry."

"Hey." Naruto trailed the backs of his fingernails along Sasuke's arm, soothing him. "No one would think of that. It's not your fault. Don't worry."

Sasuke pressed his lips together and didn't seem placated. He continued staring into the distance, and when Naruto was just about to speak, Sasuke opened his mouth again.

"You've been wanting to ask me questions, haven't you?" His dark eyes met Naruto's blue. "What do you want to know?"

Naruto shook his head. "You don't want to talk about it..."

"I do." Sasuke reassured, eyes flicking away for a moment before locking with Naruto's again. "I think... If I talk about what's happened... It'll be easier. To understand."

Naruto didn't know how Sasuke's careful monotone could still convey so much emotion but he leaned forward and kissed Sasuke chastely. "All I want to know, is when and why you tried to commit suicide."

There was a momentary silence at Sasuke's shock that Naruto knew, but he accepted it and continued.

"It was the day you came over for dinner." Naruto stirred beside him, and he continued, undeterred. "Orochimaru wanted you. For his... experiments. I knew that if I kept seeing you, he'd get you no matter what... So..."

He trailed off, and swallowed, no longer looking at Naruto, waiting, mentally begging, for a reaction.

"I don't want you to think I'm a freak."

He confessed and breath hitched. There was a soft movement and Naruto pressed their foreheads together.

"I'd never think that of you, Sasuke. Never. I love you too much."

The emotion in Naruto's voice was just so raw, and, gods, Sasuke was sure he'd drown in it and get lost in it. He'd never find his way out. It wasn't such a bad thought. And any thoughts of red eyes were firmly pushed away, because he wasn't ready to tell Naruto that the boy he loved really was a freak. He didn't want that. Not yet.

Naruto shifted, moving to a more comfortable position to hold Sasuke and ran his fingers over the boy's ribcage.

"Thank you..." Sasuke whispered, so sure that Naruto didn't hear.

"You don't have to talk about anything else." Naruto promised, "Not until you want to. I'll listen, and I promise Sasuke, you'll never be a freak to me."

Sasuke leaned closer to him, his warm body and closed his eyes.

"I'll tell you everything someday." It was his turn to make a promise, and mean it. "I'll tell you... about Orochimaru. And everything else."

Naruto kissed the top of his head and silence fell upon the two. It was just as they were drifting into the haziness of sleep that Naruto spoke again.

"School will be starting soon. We don't have to transfer."

"Yeah."

"We're lucky."

Sasuke smiled, could almost laugh. "Yeah. We are."

End Chapter 14

This chapter was just one big sap!

If you pay attention, in just about every chapter, I talk about windows. o.O Weird.

And I was totally looking to give Anko a cameo, I just couldn't fit one in! Woe!

Just the epilogue to go! (don't hurt me!)