AN: To everyone who has reviewed, I give my greatest thanks. I wish I could give more personalized thank yous, but right now I can't find the time. Just know that I have read everyone of your reviews and greatly appreciate it.

Chapter 3

"WHAT!" Naruto all but shouted, jumping up from his relaxed position by the door."Granny, you can't be serious! This is Sasuke! He'll, he'll—I don't know! Murder me and hide me under his floorboards or something!"

Tsunade rolled her eyes."That's enough Naruto, stop being so dramatic. And don't call me granny." She added as an afterthought. Turning back to Sasuke, she was shocked to see how pale he had gone. I mean even paler than his usual pallor. She raised an eyebrow, and snapped her fingers in front of his dazed expression. That brought him back into the present.

Brushing hair out of his eyes with shaking fingers, he turned pleading eyes toward Tsunade. Begging was below him, but pride be damned, he couldn't be cooped up with Naruto of all people for however long this was going to take! "Tsunade, please reconsider. I will take your decision in silence if only you will place me with someone else. Please." He added again through gritted teeth. His voice was just a static whisper as it came out of his sore and damaged throat.

There was a low angry growl as Naruto's eyes narrowed. He stormed over and clutched at the metal railing of Sasuke's hospital bed. "And what the hell is that supposed to mean, teme!" Naruto said, pushing his face close to Sasuke's. Sasuke couldn't believe it. Naruto had actually addressed him! He was even looking him in the eye and had called him teme like in the past. He could feel Naruto's hot breath washing over is lips, and felt his face become hard at the close proximity. Despite this break in the cold shoulder Naruto had been giving him, He didn't like people getting so close to him.

Feeling suddenly nervous, his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth and he could think of no sharp reply or gibe to offer back. His faltering came off, instead, as a stony glare; for he had narrowed his own eyes at the difficulty he was having of just breathing.

When Naruto got no reply, he grumbled under his breath, "bastard," and backed away from Sasuke and the bed. His eyes flashed with a sudden determination and he turned angrily to leave the room. Hand on the door frame, he glanced over his shoulder at Sasuke, a shard of some emotion lodged in his eyes.

"Fine, I'll be his babysitter." He growled out.

"Good," Tsunade said, "run home and gather some necessities. Then report back here tomorrow morning. I want to keep Sasuke for another night of observation. Tomorrow you will escort Sasuke to his house, and from then on you are not to leave his side for even a moment. Is that understood?"

Upon receiving these orders, Naruto's shoulders sunk from their tense position as if defeated, but his voice was still gruff. "Yes." The word was quickly bitten off in his seeming anger, chewed up and spit out onto the floor.

Then he was gone, his sandals slapping against the linoleum tile as he walked away. There was the sound of the door to the stairway closing as it came echoing down the hall like a phantom, and Sasuke took it as his cue to draw in a deep breath through his nose. He had been holding it for a while there.

Glaring angrily down at the white sheets covering his legs, Sasuke clenched his jaw. He hoped he burned a hole through the fucking things. Damnit, what was he going to do now? Naruto was for sure going to hate him after this. He couldn't believe that he had fucked up yet again.

His frustration and loathing was palpable in the small hospital room. Sakura and Tsunade shared a look of communication. Tsunade's amber eyes flickered that she understood the risks in what she had just done. Sakura's green ones winked that she hoped the possible gains outweighed the risks in the end.

Sighing, Tsunade risked placing a hand on Sasuke's shoulder. He was as stiff as a board.

"Look, Sasuke. You're going to have to work through you pride here. I know you hold the belief that you can't ask for help, so I'm doing the asking for you. I don't care what your past may hold. You are a ninja of my village and I care about your safety, got it?" Tsunade said gruffly.

Sasuke's glare only softened subtly in response, but she took it as confirmation.

"Look at it as motivation." Tsunade said brightly. "The sooner you get better, the faster you can have your home to yourself again."

Shrugging out of Tsunade's grasp, Sasuke raised his eyes to meet hers. "I don't have a home." He snapped. Hair fell over his face as he looked down at the sheets again. He shook his head subtly. "I have abandoned my home and now it will no longer accept me."He said quietly. His voice was so full of remorse. It sent both Sakura and Tsunade for a loop. Was this still Uchiha Sasuke?

Sasuke just shook his head again. They couldn't understand. His home wasn't a building. It didn't have four walls and a roof. Instead, it had blonde hair and battle scars. It had blue eyes and a loud laugh. They could never understand.

Sasuke glanced suggestively at the door. "If you don't mind, I'm feeling a bit tired." He wasn't saying it just to get rid of them. His body ached with exhaustion.

Tsunade stepped back, still a bit startled. "Yes, o-of course. That should be the sedative I put in your drip." She fingered the clear tubing of the IV that ran down into the needle taped to his wrist. He hadn't noticed it before, when he had first woken up after the dream.

"Get all the rest you can." Tsunade said absently before turning and pulling Sakura with her out the door.

Sasuke was too upset to worry about the sedative, though his face remained stoic. Let the dreams come, he thought. Nothing had stopped them in the past anyway.

The struggling, the suffering, the pain. What had it all been for? Where had it gotten him? His brother was dead. Madara was dead. Just more bodies to throw amongst the countless others of his kin. Who was he? Who had Uchiha Sasuke become, and for what purpose?

Staring at his hands, he realized they were almost as pale as the sheets. He frowned minutely. He had never thought that his life would come to this. He was an Uchiha, proud and strong. But now he was the last remaining Uchiha. And he wasn't very proud, not anymore. He was just a lonely kid, trying to play a role that he thought the world expected of him.

Closing his eyes, he felt his body relax a bit as the sedative began coursing through his veins. Let the darkness come, he thought. Let it wash over me.

So tired. He rolled a bit to his side, eyes blinking off sleep halfheartedly. The room was cast in color. Too tired to care what the color was. It was coming from the gentle whirring of the machines, though.

Blinking a bit more, a person was cast in the light of the machines as well, blending in with the rest of the room, sitting in the chair, the one that was always placed in hospital rooms for visitors' convenience. They were slouched over, just a collection of shadows in the room. The chair was pushed back into the farthest corner. All their features muddled and ran together in the dark half-light. "Asleep," Sasuke mumbled to himself, barely a rasp that caught and clawed at his throat and labored out of his mouth. Whoever they were, they were asleep.

Sasuke grimaced a bit. What a terrible place to sleep. Maybe it was Sakura, or another nurse, someone Tsunade had made to stand guard in case he did anything drastic. He was too heavy right now to be drastic, though. Too, too, umm…what had he been thinking about?

Sleep, it was calling him back in. And he wanted to go back. Back to sleep.

Sasuke bolted upright in bed, hissing as the IV in his wrist caught a bit. Glancing suspiciously around the room, he squinted into the morning sunshine that came flooding in through the window. He sat there a moment, waiting for something to happen, but nothing did.

So, what, no dreams? No vomiting? Was it really morning already?

He climbed out of the hospital bed, pulling out the damned IV so that it dripped it's contents onto the tile floor. Walking over to the open window, he stuck his head out and glanced about at the warming land. A wind rustled through the nearby trees and blew back his hair, refreshing him. This…was different. Turning his gaze towards the pale morning sky, he narrowed his eyes. This felt weird. He could come to terms with not getting sick, but having no dreams at all was odd. He had been having nightmares since his academy days.

His suspicion was interrupted as the hospital door slid open, and he whirled around to blink owlishly at a nurse clad in mint scrubs that walked into the room. She seemed equally surprised to see him there as well, despite the fact that he was a patient.

"Uchiha-san, what are you—," her eyes roved around the room and landed on the clear puddle that was forming on the floor. Glancing back up at him, she frowned a bit and gave him a disapproving look.

"Please, get back into your bed, Uchiha-san." She shuffled over to him and started to shoo him away from the window before closing it and lowering the blinds half mast. Frowning, Sasuke glanced over his shoulder at the small woman that was pushing him towards the cot, her fingers sternly wrapped around his shoulder. He gave her a small glare but allowed her to do her job.

She had him sit on the edge of the bed, before replacing the IV needle and sliding it back into the map of veins on his wrist. Then she ordered him to lie back down, which he did without a fuss. He felt a little lost with the absence of what had become a sort of ritual for him and couldn't muster the will to glare at the way she pushed him around.

She bustled about the room for a few minutes, cleaning up the puddle on the floor and pushing a chair back to its proper place beside the bed. Before leaving the room, she checked some sort of paperwork that she had carried into the room with her before checking his drip. Then, without a word she left the room.

Sasuke wasn't sure how long he started at the sterile white of the ceiling. He felt…empty. Though the nightmares were unpleasant, they were all he had left. They were his memories, his past. His life. Without them, he had nothing.

So he blinked up at the ceiling and it stared back. He didn't know where to go from here. He didn't know who to be. The dreams had defined him, had given him something to pass his time with. And now that was being taken away, too. Except that for once, it wasn't his fault.

It had been his fault as he'd watched the blood pool like shadows onto the hardwood floors of his family home. It had been his fault for letting Itachi get away with it, for letting him live as long as he did, and, in the end, for killing him. It had been his fault that he had pushed everyone away. It had been his fault for all the tortures he had seen and gone through without a sound while with Orochimaru. It had all been his fault. Blood was on his hands.

But for once, this wasn't his doing. This had been taken from him. Even so, he couldn't find the anger, couldn't find the spite or fury. There was just…emptiness. Everything had settled like silt to the bottom of his stomach. He was lost.

Light trekked across the patch of ceiling in his view. He waited. Eventually, the door slid open again.

"Ah, good you're awake."

Sluggishly, Sasuke processed the words. Snapping back to himself, he pulled himself into a sitting position and glared at Tsunade. It felt comforting to do so. It was something familiar.

"Nani, don't look at me like that, Uchiha. You got yourself into this mess."

Sasuke frowned. He couldn't help the dreams or his response to them. Internally shrugging, he added it to his list. Pile on the blame. He could take it.

Sakura followed Tsunade into the room and then Naruto. He stood off in a corner not really settling his eyes on anything, but letting them roam about. Was he nervous? Sasuke scoffed. He wasn't actually going to kill Naruto and bury him under his floorboards, though, if he got too annoying, it would begin to look appealing.

Yes, yes, good. He was coming back. His old mask was coming back. He didn't need anyone. He would remove anyone who got in his way. But here, he faltered a bit. What way? He had already completed his objective.

Sasuke glared coldly at Naruto, who kept fidgeting in the corner as Sakura began to remove his IV for good, and Tsunade flicked machines off in preparation for him to leave.

Suddenly Naruto stopped wiggling and looked Sasuke straight in the eye. His eyes were a sober grey blue, before something seemed to snap a bit. He glared back at Sasuke, before returning to his nervous fidgeting.

"Alright, Sasuke, Naruto will be keeping an eye on you. He will be with you at all times, except of course for the obvious times such as bathing and such. He will prepare your meals, and make sure you are getting an appropriate amount of sleep." She moved to stand at the foot of the bed as Sakura went to dispose of the IV bag, tubing and needle.

Seeing that he was still glaring at the wall behind her head, Tsunade asked, "Is there anything you have to say about this?"

Sasuke shook his head. She already knew how he felt about it. There was no point in saying anymore on it.

"Actually, I have something, Ba-san."

Tsunade's brow twitched, but she nodded at Naruto to continue speaking.

"Will, I still get paid for this?" Naruto asked, bouncing on his toes a bit.

"Naruto, you can't be serious!" Sakura snapped, coming to stand at Tsunade's side. "Sasuke is your teammate! You shouldn't need compensation for—"

"Enough, Sakura." Tsunade said, stopping Sakura cold. "Yes, Naruto, you will be paid for this."

Naruto nodded a bit, seeming relieved.

Tsunade watched him a bit longer, and then turned back to Sasuke and placed his street clothes on the edge of the bed. He had been wearing set of hospital issue clothing. White trousers and shirt.

"Get dressed. Naruto will be waiting for you in the hall. From there he will escort you home."

With that, they all left the room. Sakura was the last to leave. She turned and smiled at Sasuke before sliding the door closed.

Quietly, Sasuke slipped back into his clothing. He pulled on his sandals, did up the straps, and then stood up from the side of the bed. He was ready for this. He didn't need anyone. Didn't care about anyone. He liked being alone. Naruto was only a nuisance, something to be tolerated while it lasted.

He stepped out into the hall.

"— is from five months ago! You need to report this to me, Naruto! They can't just not pay you for your services. You are a ninja of Konohagakure. Why do you let them get away with it? If you allow it, it could escalate, and then how will you pay rent or even eat?"

Tsunade stood at the end of the hall, screaming at a nonchalant Naruto. Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"Tsunade-sama, I am fine. I figure if I let them have their fun with this, they might be able to tolerate my presence a bit more." Naruto's voice was calm, even a bit serious.

Sasuke's other eyebrow rose to join the first.

Tsunade stared tensely at Naruto for a moment before sighing and muttering something Sasuke couldn't hear.

Sasuke slid the hospital room door closed, allowing it to make more noise than necessary so that his presence would be announced.

"Ah, Sasuke, you're ready." Tsunade said, walking back to where he stood. Naruto stayed at the end of the hall staring out a window.

Sasuke gave a curt nod.

"I want you to take care of yourself. You are a good ninja. I need your services." She said before turning and walking brusquely away. Passing Naruto, she handed him an envelope and an exasperated look before disappearing completely around the corner. Naruto watched her go, then stuffed the envelope in his pocket and turned to look at Sasuke down the hall. He was surprisingly quiet. He just stared.

Feeling uncomfortable, Sasuke glared. Defense mechanism.

"Are we going or what, dobe." Sasuke sneered. He hated himself for it, knowing he was such a false person, but he let it create the distance between them that he needed. He could do this. He might be lost but he would find his way.