The greater your capacity to love, the greater your capacity to feel the pain. - Unknown

Sasuke's eyes caught something strange. He looked down by Naruto's feet and saw blood, and from the looks of it, the blood was flowing down from his leg. He looked up at Naruto in disbelief. He was going to get some answers from him, even if he had to force it out of his blond best friend.

"What the hell is wrong with you? I didn't want to believe you were hurting yourself, but the blood dripping down your legs onto the rug explains it all…"

"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked, playing innocent. However, in his mind, he was terrified. He did not want anyone to know what he was doing, because that would make them ask questions, and questions would lead him to talking about what happened with Kakashi, and Naruto didn't think he had the strength to talk about what happened. It would only make everything much more painful, and Naruto was in enough pain, he didn't need anymore.

"Quit it Naruto! You know what I'm talking about!" Sasuke yelled as he pinned Naruto to the bed. Naruto immediately began squirming, for fear of what Sasuke was going to do to him. The raven began to unravel the bandages around his left wrist, which proved to be difficult, because Naruto was squirming a lot, he tried thrashing his legs, but Sasuke trapped them underneath his own body. He finally unraveled the whole thing and gasped when he saw Naruto's wrists.

There were tons of thin lines running across his wrist. They looked red, dark, and angry, as if they were infected. Sasuke quickly unraveled the other bandage and sighed when he saw the same thing. He looked down at Naruto's legs. His pants were currently riding up his legs, exposing more of the blood that was dripping down.

"Where's this blood coming from?" Sasuke demanded. If he had to, he would rip Naruto's pants off to see where the blood was coming from, but he'd rather hear it from Naruto first. He really didn't want to have to force the teens pants off, but if Naruto didn't talk, he had no other choice.

"Sasuke, it's not-" Naruto began, but Sasuke had enough. He wasn't going to listen to Naruto's lies. He held down Naruto's chest with one hand and began pulling his pants down with the other. It was a little difficult pulling down the squirming blonds pants with one hand, but after a few seconds, they were off.

Sasuke's eyes widened at the large gashes in Naruto's left thigh. From the looks of it, they were fresh and bleeding a lot. If Naruto didn't clean the cut soon, it would get infected.

"Naruto, what the hell is wrong with you? Why are you doing this?" Sasuke asked. His voice wasn't loud anymore. Instead, it was very low, and was laced with worry and anger.

"I…None of your business! G…get out! Leave me alone! GET OUT!" Naruto yelled, pushing Sasuke off him. He whimpered in pain, as the gash on his leg bled more. When he pushed Sasuke off, he moved his wrist's too much and the cuts got irritated, causing them to bleed as well.

"No…You need to clean these wounds up, or they'll get infected." Sasuke told him as he grabbed the blonds forearm and pulled him off the bed. Naruto whimpered at the pain and the uncomfortable feeling of the blood dripping down his leg. As Sasuke led him to the bathroom, he looked longingly at his discarded pants. He couldn't help but feel…exposed without them.

"Sit." Sasuke ordered as he pushed Naruto onto the toilet. The cover was currently down, so he was able to sit on it fully without falling in. Naruto glanced down at his feet as Sasuke searched through the medicine cabinet for some alcohol, cotton balls, bandages and Neosporin. Once they were in his hand, he walked over to Naruto and placed the Neosporin and bandages on the floor. He knelt down and poured some alcohol on the cotton balls, and rubbed it on the gash. Naruto yelled out in pain slightly and tried to pull away, but Sasuke held him firmly. He wasn't going to allow Naruto to escape his hold.

"Stop squirming." Sasuke said, rubbing the alcohol onto the gashes until the stopped bleeding. He put some Neosporin on the gashes and than wrapped them up tight. He briefly wondered why Kyuubi wasn't healing the blond, but brushed it away as he began working on Naruto's wrists.

Naruto was silent during the whole ordeal. He had no clue what to say, and he felt embarrassed. He never meant for anyone to see what he was doing, but he had forgotten how pushy Sasuke was. It was only a matter of time until the Uchiha found out, and Naruto supposed it was sooner or later…He only wished it was later. He could only hope that Sasuke didn't keep asking why he did it.

"Come on, I'm finished. You should go to sleep now." Sasuke said as he grabbed Naruto's forearm and pulled him up. Silently, the two walked into Naruto's bedroom, and Sasuke pulled the covers off the bed, and helped Naruto lay down. The blond felt so helpless. He was able to do all of this himself, but Sasuke insisted on helping him.

"Go to sleep, we'll talk about this in the morning." Sasuke said as he turned off the lights and shut the door, shrouding the room in darkness.

XOXOXO

Kakashi sat alone on his kitchen table, grasping a mug firmly in his hand. It was around four AM and he couldn't sleep. He couldn't stop thinking about what had recently happened between him and Naruto.

Naruto sat quietly as he listened to the calm sound of Kakashi pouring tea into two mugs. He picked them up and handed one to Naruto, who held out his hands and took it slowly. He avoided looking into Kakashi's eye. Everything was so awkward now. He had no clue how to act towards his sensei.

"Naruto, why do you avoid me?" Kakashi asked, almost sad. He knew he hurt Naruto, but he didn't think the blond would completely ignore him, and do his best to avoid him.

"What? Oh…I've been busy Kakashi-sensei. The Chuunin exams are soon, I have to practice for them! So does Sasuke, he wants to pass them too." Naruto said, taking a sip of his tea. He winced when the hot liquid hit his tongue.

"Ah, the Chuunin exams, that's right. Would you like me to help you train for them?" Kakashi asked as he put his cup of tea down, and walked slowly over to the blond. He rested his hands on the arms of the chair and leaned in closely. He leaned forward still, until he was almost kissing Naruto. Kakashi didn't know what was going on his head, but he leaned forward still, until he placed his lips upon Naruto's.

"NO!" Naruto yelled and pushed Kakashi away, dropping the mug in the process.

'I have Obito. Why do I even need Naruto? I just used him, he was only a replacement. And I love Obito…so why do I keep thinking of him?' Kakashi asked himself.

"Naruto, wake up! We have a letter from Tsunade." Sasuke said as he shook the blond harshly, trying to wake him up. Naruto groaned and sat up, rubbing his eyes as he took the letter from Sasuke.

Uchiha Sasuke,

Due to your secret S-ranked mission, you are hereby promoted to the Chuunin rank.

Godaime Hokage.

Sasuke smirked and handed the second letter over to Naruto, wondering if it said something similar.

Uzumaki Naruto,

Due to your personal training with Jiraiya, and your time away, you are hereby promoted to the Chuunin Rank.

Godaime Hokage

"EH? I'm promoted without even taking the exams? Yatta! What about you, teme? Were you promoted too?" Naruto asked, excited, making him temporarily forget everything that had happened recently.

"Yes, I was also promoted to Chuunin." Sasuke said. He knew Naruto was avoiding the subject of what happened last night, but Sasuke wasn't going to let him.

"Tell me, Naruto, why have you been cutting yourself?" Sasuke asked. There was barely any emotion in his voice, and he was being stern. It meant he wanted a straight answer, no lies and no delays.

"I don't want to talk about it." Naruto said, turning away from his best friend. He was wondering what to say to Sasuke; because there was no way he was going to tell him what had happened, so he told him the truth. He didn't want to talk about it.

"Naruto, tell me why you're cutting yourself." Sasuke said, this time more serious. He was beginning to get angry at Naruto's immaturity.

"I told you Sasuke, I don't want to talk about it." Naruto said, a sob escaping his throat. He tried so hard to hold it back, but he couldn't take it anymore.

"What's wrong with you? Is it me? Is it my fault?" Sasuke asked. Naruto shook his head.

"Please Sasuke, don't make me talk about it. It'll only hurt more, it'll make matters worse. I…I'll tell you, but just give me time. Please, Sasuke?" Naruto begged, holding onto Sasuke's hand. His eyes were pleading too.

"Fine, but you better stop cutting yourself. If I catch you again, I'll force the answer out of you." Sasuke said, his tone of voice frightening the blond. Naruto nod his head, and turned his head away, looking out the window. His eyes widened when he saw Obito and Kakashi making their way towards the mansion.

"Kakashi-sensei and Obito-niichan are coming?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah. Why? What's wrong with that?" Sasuke asked, the way Naruto said Kakashi's name made him feel that Kakashi had done something wrong.

"N...nothing, it's fine." Naruto said, unsure if he'd be able to face Kakashi after what happened the other day.

"I'm going to go for a walk, okay Sasuke? I'll be back in a little while." Naruto said as he pulled the covers off his body. He winced slightly at the pain. His thigh was a little sore from the gash, but he did his best to ignore it. He walked over to his closet and grabbed a blue shirt and a pair of black pants. He dressed quickly, avoiding Sasuke's gaze as the coal-eyes followed his every move.

"See you later, teme." Naruto said as he left the room. He left the house out through the back entrance, so he would avoid Kakashi. He liked Obito a lot, but he didn't have it in his heart to tell the Uchiha what happened between them.