Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and do not make a profit out of the writing of this fanfiction

Warnings: Yaoi, self-mutation, blood, suicide attempts, death (?), some OOC. This story is meant to be very dark and sad.

"He who has never experienced hurt, cannot experience true love". ~Tristan J. Loo

Naruto sighed in deep thought as he made his way home from the Uchiha complex. He casually kicked a small rock as he walked, staring at it as he kicked it. There was so much he wanted Sasuke to explain, but he was going to wait a while before he actually asked them. Sasuke was already going to face a lot of pressure and questions from the villagers and peers, so Naruto didn't want to add to it.

"Hello Naruto!" Someone greeted happily and Naruto looked up to see the scarred face of Uchiha Obito. He stopped walking for a moment to talk to the elder Uchiha.

"Hi Obito-niisan!" Naruto greeted, equally as happy. He wasn't going to let anyone see his true face. He had to wear a mask, because he believed that everyone needed some sort of light in their life, and Naruto wanted to be everyone's light, and if there was a crack of darkness in that light, everything soon be shrouded in darkness.

"Hello Naruto." Kakashi greeted casually as he stood next to Obito. He normally never left Obito's side, almost as if unconsciously he was afraid that he was going to lose him again. He only saw Naruto when he was with Obito, and when he saw the young blond, he acted as though nothing had happened, as if he hadn't broken Naruto's heart.

Naruto slowly let his eye's meet Kakashi's. He felt so small and weak under the older mans gaze. Within a few seconds, he ripped his eyes and let them rest on the mans forehead protector. From Kakashi's view, it would seem as though Naruto was looking in his eyes. Naruto felt more comfortable with this, and he smiled warmly.

"Hi Kakashi-sensei!" He greeted happily, pausing for a moment before continuing on.

"Did you hear? Sasuke's back! And it turns out that Tsunade was the one who sent him to Orochimaru. You should go see him, Kakashi-sensei, since you haven't seen him in 3 years!" Naruto told the man, and Obito nod his head, showing that he understood what Naruto was saying.

"Tsunade-sama announced it to the village, so we all know Naruto. You must be happy, huh? Your teammate and best friend is finally back. I'm going to go meet him tomorrow. I think he needs to rest up a little bit first." Obito said. He knew nothing of Naruto's old feelings for Kakashi, so he was acting casual. Kakashi however, was watching Naruto for any change of expression. When he didn't notice it, he got a bit surprised. Naruto acted so normal when he was around Kakashi and Obito. Almost as if nothing had happened between him and Kakashi.

"Oh! Okay! Well, I have to get home now. I'll see you soon Obito-niichan, Kakashi-sensei. Bye!" Naruto said as he ran past the couple as fast as he could. Moments later, Kakashi and Obito began walking again, and for a split second, Kakashi averted his eyes slightly, to see if Naruto was still running.

XOXOXOXO

Naruto panted as he let the kunai dig deeper into his skin, the cuts that were already there hadn't healed yet, and they opened up again as the sharp steel pierced his skin. Naruto closed his eyes in pain as the blood flowed out. He was beginning to enjoy it, because it took away from the ache in his heart, if only temporarily. His hand shook as he slide it across his other wrist, blood streamed down his hands and onto the tiles beneath him. There was so much blood, and it was beginning to drip up his arms as he moved them. His hands shook more as he lost blood and the kunai slipped out of his hand. It clanked on the floor and fell silent, the fresh blood dripping off it and joining the small puddle that had already formed.

Naruto griped his right wrist with his left hand and held it tightly, trying to stop the bleeding. He felt dizzy and completely sick, more so than any either time he had ever done this. He let his eyes close slowly as he fell to the floor on his knees. Had he cut too deep this time?

He had a hard time standing up, and grasped the sink for support. When he finally stood on his wobbly legs, he turned on the water and placed his bloody wrists. He winced as the cold water hit the wounds, but didn't pull away. After a few moments, he turned off the faucet and reached for the medicine cabinet. He stored bandages and any other first aid items he needed in there. He wrapped some bandages around his wrists. There was still blood flowing out of the cuts, but Naruto shrugged it off. He'd change the wraps again in the morning.

XOXOXOXO

Sasuke couldn't help but shake the disturbing thought of Naruto intentionally hurting himself.

'No, Naruto has no reason to. He must have been injured on a mission, or during training. There's no reason for him to cut himself.' Sasuke thought to himself as he entered his bedroom. He felt chills run through his body. It was weird being back after being gone for so long.

Before even worrying about getting ready for bed, he walked slowly over to his nightstand. On his nightstand, was his team picture. When he left, he faced it downwards, but it was standing up, showing the picture inside the frame to anyone who had entered the room. He slowly reached forward and picked up the framed picture gently, as if it were to break with the slightest contact. He brought it closer and gently rubbed his finger against Naruto.

"Don't worry Naruto, I'm back now, and I don't plan on holding back. I'll show you…I'll show you just how much I love you, how much I've dreamed about you, thought of you, and wanted you. I await the day when I finally hold you in my arms."

XOXOXOXO

Knock, knock, knock.

Naruto groaned at the noise and curled up, pulling his blanket over him completely, trying to drown out the annoying sound. He was tired and his wrists were sore.

"Dobe! Get up!" A voice yelled out and Naruto's eyes widened. He sat up in his bed quickly, the blanket still wrapped around his body.

"EH! How'd you get in here?" Naruto asked as Sasuke entered his room.

"Tch, it's not that difficult to pick a lock, now get up. We have things to do today, and we can't get them done if you sleep the day away." Sasuke told his blond friend.

"Okay Sasuke…Oh! And I decided that I will move in with you…I don't really like this place anyway." Naruto explained.

"Alright. After we visit Obito, we'll cancel your lease and move your stuff into my house. Now get up!" Sasuke replied as he walked over to Naruto and gripped the blanket in attempt to get him out of bed. But Naruto grabbed onto the blanket and pulled it closer.

"I…I'll get up myself Sasuke! I have no clothes on under this, so can you get out please? So I can get dressed. Wait for me in the kitchen." Naruto said, and Sasuke stared at him. They had seen each other naked countless times, and it wasn't that much of a big deal. He wondered why Naruto cared, but seeing as though Naruto hadn't budged, he shook his head and walked out of the room.

Naruto let out a sigh of relief and stood up. He looked at his wrists to see that the bandages were completely red. He turned around to see that his sheets had some blood on them too.

"I can't let Sasuke see that!" Naruto panicked as he ripped the sheets off the bed and rolled them up into a ball, tossing them into the garbage. He quickly grabbed a pair of clothes and made his way to the bathroom. Once there, he unwrapped his wrists, wincing the whole way through, and threw the bloodied bandages in the garbage. He hurriedly turned on the faucet and cleaned off any dry blood that was still on his body. Once the blood was all gone, he reached into the medicine cabinet and grabbed some fresh wraps, and quickly wrapped from his wrist to the middle of his fore-arm, to make it look like and other ninja who wore wraps on their bodies. This would make it look casual. He didn't want Sasuke to find out and ask questions. He didn't want anyone to find out.

Sighing he slipped on a plain black shirt. Next, he pulled on a pair of orange shorts. He made to grab his orange and black jacket, but decided against it. He wasn't training today, so he figured he'd dress casual.

"Okay teme, lets get going now…Oi! What are you staring at?" Naruto asked when Sasuke's eyes traveled down his body slowly.

"What are you wearing?"

"Clothes…"

"I see that, I meant the bandages on your arms?" Sasuke asked.

"They're wraps. Plenty of ninja's wear them, like Lee, for example, so why shouldn't I? Now lets go! You must want to meet Obito, eh?"

"Yes dobe, lets go." Sasuke said as he let his eyes rest on Naruto's bandaged wrists. Many ninja's wore sports tape on their legs or arms, it was common, and he wouldn't be surprised if Naruto began to wear them as well. What he wore on his wrists were bandages, meant for injuries, not tape. Which led Sasuke to believe that Naruto, had in fact, cut himself. But he shook the feeling away. He didn't want to believe it, and he wouldn't accept it until he got some answers.